Columbia zero-waste store offers recycling alternative | Mid-Missouri News | komu.com - KOMU 8

Columbia zero-waste store offers recycling alternative | Mid-Missouri News | komu.com

COLUMBIA — Leah Christian, owner of The Clean Refill, scooped all-natural conditioner into a large, reusable container Wednesday afternoon as she talked about her inspiration to open a zero-waste store.

"I knew a lot of my recycling wasn't getting recycled," Christian said. "Our bottles were building up around our house."

The Clean Refill is a zero-waste home and body product store at 3601 Buttonwood Drive on Columbia's south side. It sells various household products like soap, laundry detergent, lotion and cleaning products with a mission to reduce single-use plastic waste by giving the community access to zero-waste products.

"Everything from laundry soap to dish, soap to shampoo and conditioner to face creams," Christian said. "Everything is sold by the ounce, and you can bring in your own container to reuse."

Customers can bring in clean, empty containers, which will first be weighed. Customers then fill their containers with any of the products, and then bring their filled container to the register to be weighed again and paid for.

Christian said she had the idea to open the store after visiting a similar one.

"I actually went to a store like this in California four years ago," she said.

Christian opened The Clean Refill in February, and just a few months later, the city suspended curbside recycling pickup indefinitely.

She said she hopes to leave a better, cleaner world for future generations.

"Really, it's for the future, for our children, to have a better world for them because plastic is everywhere," she said.

So far, the store has saved over 3,500 plastic containers from ending up in landfills.

"Plastic is everywhere," Christian said. "And it takes a really long time to decompose."

She said her goal is to reach 43,000 plastic containers saved by the end of this year.

For those without usable containers, Christian has a solution for that, too.

"We have a whole donation bin of containers that are clean, reusable containers, and then we also sell reusable glass bottles," she said.

It's not only Christian's store that reuses containers. The suppliers that supply Christian's products also use reusable containers.

"Not only are my customers reusing their containers, but all my products are in reused containers," she said.

Christian said she hopes to reach at least half of the Columbia population, and then other folks in mid-Missouri.

"The idea is that you can reduce, you know, every individual that shops here can reduce their plastic footprint by a lot just by getting our products and not throwing away plastic every time they get laundry, soap," she said.

Although taking part in reducing plastic waste can feel overwhelming, Christian said there are small things people can do to make a difference.

"You just think about little things like using reusable grocery bags and getting rid of your straws and coming into The Clean Fefill," she said. "And then pretty soon, each individual person can make a really big difference."