How The Good Bottle Refill Shop Is Changing An Industry

We should all be taking steps to become more sustainable. Sustainability means not only making big changes to go green, but slowly making incremental changes that will have a major impact in the long term. Many of us already know some of the ways we can make our lifestyles more environmentally sustainable. It’s estimated that about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions are associated with livestock production, but cutting down on meat is not the only way you can make positive environmental changes and reduce your carbon footprint.

This is why the state of New Jersey recently voted to ban plastic and paper bags, following the lead of several other states in the nation. Businesses will no longer be allowed to use these single-use products, which include foam containers. Those that violate the ban will be fined, hopefully encouraging the use of recyclable products. Recycling products over time can also make a big change. But it can be difficult to recycle as much as you might want, even if your local area offers recycling programs.

Fortunately, there are solutions becoming increasingly available for those who want to live a sustainable lifestyle, but don’t find it immediately achievable. Small businesses like the Good Bottle Refill Shop are making it much easier for local residents to go green and have a positive environmental impact. Not only do stores like these help promote eco-friendly practices, but they are also contributing to the New Jersey economy. Potentially, this could create a model for other local businesses to follow, in which they are both creating social and environmental change and providing jobs, as well as a financial boost to the area.

What Is The Good Bottle Refill Store?

In the past, we’ve seen a strong divide between the retail experience and recycling. However, The Good Bottle Refill Shop aims to change that. The store provides a truly immersive shopping experience. It offers shampoo, lotion, and body wash brands like EO; laundry and cleaning products like Mama Suds or Better Life; and even toothpaste products like those provided by Unpaste. The change comes not in the products provided or their quality, but in their delivery systems.

When customers shop at the Good Bottle Refill Shop, they can bring their own reusable containers and fill them with products there. If they lack containers, they can buy them at the store and bring them back for refills later. This means that rather than buying new products with disposable containers that will inevitably end up in the trash, consumers can drastically cut down on their waste through refills. Furthermore, it can serve to make them more conscious of the amount of product they’re wasting when buying in excessive bulk.

Think about how easily refillable plastic containers could be; with the synthetic polymers used to create plastics being in development since the 1940s, they’ve changed over time to create both single- and multi-use products. These include many of the bottles that we use for personal care products. Potentially, a product that consumers would otherwise decide to throw out could be reused at the Good Bottle Refill Shop.

What Inspired The Good Bottle Refill Shop

The Good Bottle Refill Shop is clearly an intriguing concept, but not the kind that comes without a good deal of inspiration. Not only is the shop sustainable, but it’s also woman-owned. Deanna Taylor-Heacock was inspired by the zero waste movement and came up with the idea to open a store in the area to get others interested, too. While many would be daunted by the idea of shifting from products that are universally priced and packaged in familiar bottles, Taylor-Heacock wasn’t. She devised a five-step process, through which customers would bring in reusable bottles, weigh their container while it’s empty, fill it, re-weigh it, label it, and check out.

Taylor-Heavock was aware of the fact that her own family created far too much waste; she moved from making changes simply at home to making changes in her community. While the concept of a refill store itself was not unique to the Good Bottle Refill Shop, it just wasn’t available in New Jersey att the time. As New Jersey has taken steps to become a more sustainable state, the Good Bottle Refill Shop has opened at what seems to be the perfect time, bringing a refill movement known more on the West Coast to the East.

What Kinds Of Bottles Can I Bring To The Good Bottle Refill Shop?

The Good Bottle Refill Shop does not exist to judge the types of containers customers bring to the store. It’s important for hesitant consumers to remember that the store can also close the gap by providing reusable bottles for sale. In order to get the most out of your reusable bottles, however, you may want to buy several of different sizes for different products. Consider how much you really need of each product and try to designate a single bottle for each product for the long term. While plastic bottles can be reused, customers also have success using more durable products. As steel has already been used to store and transport water for the past 150 years, it’s not surprising that some customers turn to refillable bottles made of steel or other metals. These may not only be easier to keep over time, but also easier to clean if a customer wants to transition to a different type of product.

The Good Bottle Refill Shop allows consumers the ability to take an active role in their purchasing decisions and in how much they literally consume over time. This involves less waste of products and recyclable materials, as well as less financial waste in turn, as consumers become aware of how much they can really get out of a product. In time, the model followed by and furthered through the Good Bottle Refill Shop will hopefully be taken up by other stores.