The concept of refilling is fairly new to lots of people – especially when it comes to taking your own container to a store/business and have it refilled with something. I have been meaning to do this for over 25 years but now we can share our Refill Video!

We refill and reuse things throughout our lives – plates and mugs in our home, desk calendars and staplers at work, water bottles and coffee mugs when we are out and about – but refilling things like dishwashing liquid, peanut butter, olive oil, and maple syrup are sometimes beyond many people’s experience. We are here to change our society’s idea and image of refilling and reusing.

All containers and packaging use resources and energy to manufacture, recycle or dispose of. It is so much better for the environment if we use things until they are worn out – or at least more than once! Places like our store encourage people to reuse containers and bags to refill their foods, personal care products and home cleaning products.

It can seem intimidating and very unfamiliar to take a container to a store and refill it from our bulk containers. We are asking people to step out of their comfort zone and try something new – reusing and refilling. We use lots of tools to do this but our latest is our new Refill Video.

What you will learn in our Refill Video

• Remember to bring in your own clean containers – they do not have to be empty if you are refilling with the same product
• Weigh the container – usually, a staff person does this
• Fill the container – if it is a liquid a staff person will refill it for you and all other items are refilled by the customer (if it is your first time please ask for directions)
• Record the bin number on the container
• Pay for the contents

Get rewarded – we give 5 cents for each product that you refill using your own container.

Check out some of our other blog posts on refilling and reusing like our Introduction to Refilling,  a list of most of our Bulk items (we are always expanding this offering), and Zero-Waste shopping. There is lots of information on our site about waste reduction, saving money, reducing your ecological footprint, and so much more.