Napa, Marin, Sonoma entrepreneurs offer alternative to empty bottles in recycling bin

Feel good about recycling to keep packaging out of landfills or from becoming trash in our oceans?

But according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, less than 10% of single-use packaging is recycled. That’s a business opportunity: The refill store. And it is one several entrepreneurs in the North Bay are pursuing.

Refill Madness Sonoma

Jana Wang’s T-shirt declares, “Plastic Enemy No. 1,” illustrated with noir-style drawings derivative of the 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film “Reefer Madness.” Only what she is advertising in block letters is “Refill Madness,” the name of her refill and zero-waste shop that opened in February 2021 in Sonoma.

The concept of a refillery — also called a refill store and refill station — is simple. Bring in your clean container from home, weigh it before filling, refill the container from bulk stock of perhaps, laundry detergent, and pay by weight or ounce for what you have purchased.

“People tell me that every time they put a heavy plastic detergent jug in the recycling bin, they feel awful. They know recycling a perfectly good container doesn’t make sense,” Wang said. “Recycling uses resources, and you must find a market for that plastic. We replace what we recycle, so the plastic doesn’t go away. It just degrades into smaller and smaller particles, polluting our waterways and getting ingested by fish and shore birds. If something is being reused, you are eliminating one new plastic item.”

Refill Madness Sonoma, located in Sonoma Valley Center, is the sister store of Refill Madness Sacramento, which was created by Wang’s business partner, Sloane Read, six years ago.

Owners say both stores are thriving. The Sacramento store has done over 100,000 refills since it opened. Company records show the Sonoma storefront has refilled 14,000 containers since opening a year and a half ago. That’s about 1,000 containers a month that have not entered the waste stream.

“Last year we did a little over $100,000 in sales,” Wang said, “and this year’s total is already over $100,000. I know that two new stores have recently opened in the Sacramento area. It’s a growing sector.”

Refill Madness received Sen. Bill Dodd’s 2021 Sonoma County Small Business of the Year honor. On Earth Day, April 22, Mayor Jack Ding presented the store with a Sustainable Business Award from Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Maison Verte in Napa Valley

When Ailene Chene Brisoux, who was born and raised in France, moved to California after living in Montreal for 15 years, she was surprised and disappointed to find limited options for refill in her town. Brisoux decided to start her own refill station.

At first it was a pop-up in the St. Helena health store in the Napa Valley where she worked. When her small business proved viable, she created Maison Verte (“Green House” in French) as a low-waste shop and refill station at Napa Farmers Market. Customers bring their own containers to refill liquid soaps and other products at the same time they score fresh fruits and vegetables on a Saturday morning.

She says there is currently no other refill location in Napa County.

“Whole Foods used to offer liquid soap in bulk, but since the pandemic they don’t have even that,” Brisoux said.

Maison Verte does about 20 refills per market from 9 a.m. to noon and offers products in biodegradable packaging along with the bulk items and price comparison information. Some products, like shampoo, conditioner, hand soap and body lotion are slightly cheaper in bulk, while laundry detergent and dish soap are a little more expensive.

“They are sourced from local companies that use clean ingredients,” Brisoux said.

Since the shop’s opening in November 2021, Brisoux’s sales revenue has been about $15,000.

“I'm only at the farmer's market once a week,” she said, “So this revenue doesn't reflect the potential of the business.”

Among Maison Verte customers are wineries and rental owners, a segment of the market Brisoux wants to develop more fully.

And while she talks up the importance of replacing items we use every day (like toothpaste and dental floss) with products that are low or no waste, she intends to be more deliberate in the education aspect of her mission — to help the community be part of the solution regarding climate change and signal to larger stores and manufacturers that there is a demand for zero waste items and services.

Sustainable Exchange in Novato

For years, Dan Maher had thought about creating a “20-mile store” — a place where products came from the immediate area, were made by local artisans and would contribute to community self-reliance and self-sufficiency.

But he didn’t think he could source enough product to make it work. That’s when he decided to include sustainably made, fair-trade products supplied by nonprofits, and to build in a refillery to help reduce plastic packaging and ecologically damaging product ingredients.

Maher founded Sustainable Exchange in 2018, with the support of his wife, Didi, and son, Owen, when he was about to retire from CSU Channel Islands where he taught in the environmental science and English departments.

After the storefront on Grant Street in Novato opened, Maher trained to be able to make natural products himself.

“Now I’m adding a ’smart bar’ to the store to offer more organic adaptogens and nootropics in non-alcoholic beverage forms,” Maher said. “Adaptogens are herbs (e.g., California poppy) and other functional foods like reishi mushrooms that have proven to decrease symptoms of stress, fatigue and exhaustion. Nootropics (e.g., lion’s mane mushroom) enhance cognitive functioning.” A beverage line Sustainable Exchange carries, called Three Spirit, produces such plant-sourced drinks.

Maher said that in the four years since the store’s opening, they have diverted over 120,000 plastic containers from landfills via the refillery. While he declined to state an exact amount, Maher said revenue has “increased 100% year-over-year.”

He doesn’t focus much effort online, except to take orders to deliver locally, because he’d like others to replicate the model of Sustainable Exchange in their own localities. “In fact, we are currently looking for franchise partners to help make this a reality.”

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