[Editor’s note: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Good Bottle Refill Shop is currently offering curbside pickup, and no-touch delivery to select zip codes.]
Deanna Taylor-Heacock Courtesy of Good Bottle Refill Shop
Pondering the state of the environment can make you feel guilty about not making more eco-friendly choices. Deanna Taylor-Heacock felt this weight on her shoulders—and decided to do something about it.
“I just couldn’t believe how much trash we were producing, and how much recycling we had. I was constantly taking out the trash,” says the Maplewood resident. She and her family resolved to reduce household waste. “In doing that,” she says, “we found so many items that are sustainable rather than single use.”
Once the green-living bug bit, Taylor-Heacock became determined to change her shopping habits.
“I looked at a laundry-detergent bottle and thought, This will never decompose, it will last forever.” What was needed, she suddenly realized, was a way to refill the bottle rather than recycle it. In that moment, the idea for the Good Bottle Refill Shop was born.
[RELATED: Rutgers Professor On What Our Trash Reveals About Us]
Taylor-Heacock connected her interest in sustainability with her previous retail experience to create what she says is New Jersey’s first bottle-refill shop.
The shop carries basic household necessities: dishwasher detergent, hand soap, toothpaste tablets (which turn to paste when chewed), laundry detergent, shampoo and more, all sourced from U.S. companies with the same goal in mind: cleaner products for a cleaner planet.
You can bring your own container or buy one from Good Bottle. “The beauty of the shop,” says Taylor-Heacock, “is you can purchase as little or as much as you’d like.” According to Taylor-Heacock, her refillables are more cost effective than than buying big-name brands. For instance, “it’s 25 cents per weighted ounce for the laundry detergent, but the formula is much more concentrated,” she explains. “All you need is an ounce.”
Good Bottle Refill Shop illustrates that making better choices for our planet does not have to mean stressful, lifestyle-altering changes. It can be as simple as refilling a container.
Good Bottle Refill Shop, 1875 Springfield Avenue, Maplewood; 305-898-3857.