By Pam Turczyn

The Co-op’s new refill station, located at the back of the store, is a welcome addition to our bulk section and a big step forward in the goal to minimize our plastic footprint. 

Bring in your own empty containers and refill them with luxurious, natural laundry detergent, dish soap and lotion from The Unscented Company, or Dr. Bronner’s soap. Soon, we will also carry shampoo and conditioner. If you don’t have an empty container at hand, the Co-op sells small glass jars for the lotion, as well as the usual Ball canning jars in various sizes. The soaps and lotion are all sold by the liquid ounce, so the container does not need to be weighed before being filled.

The Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetics Guild estimates that 1.4 billion body wash bottles are discarded by Americans every year, based on 2015 usage. That doesn’t even count shampoo and conditioner bottles. While shifting the throw-away paradigm by re-using what normally are single-use plastic containers should be reward enough, there are also monetary savings to be had. Here are two examples showing how using our refill station can save you up to 42% over purchasing the same or similar products in a plastic package:

A 16-ounce bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap        $8.35

Purchased at our refill station costs   $6.24

26% savings                         $2.11

A 25-ounce bottle of Ecover dish soap         $4.34 

The Unscented Company’s dish soap
at our refill station costs   $2.50

42% savings                             $1.84

(Product descriptions are from the Unscented Company website. Please note that prices are from December 2019 and are subject to change).

Anie Rouleau started The Unscented Company in 2016 with a complete line of unscented home and body care on two founding principles, according to its website. First, it wanted to “redefine the notion of clean by offering exclusively unscented all-natural products.” Second, it designs packaging for conscious living by giving customers the ability to refill their bottles in-store, for a significant reduction of our collective plastic footprint.

Dish soap, $0.10/oz. Keeps your dishes and our waterways squeaky clean. This fragrance-, dye- and phosphate-free dish soap is tough on grease. It’s gentle on your hands, but don’t worry — it has plenty of suds to make your dishes, glasses and silverware spotless.

Ingredients: water, sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, sodium laureth sulfate, glycerin, alcohol, laureth-9, decyl glucoside, lauramine oxide, sodium methylglycine diacetate, benzyl alcohol, ethylhexylglycerin, tocopherol.

Laundry detergent, $0.10/oz.
Load after load of fluffy goodness. Powerful, tough on stains, color-safe and effective even in cold water, our biodegradable concentrated laundry detergent is suitable for both high-efficiency and standard washers. Made with plant-based ingredients, this hypoallergenic formula is cloth diaper friendly, and it’s fragrance, dye and phosphate free.

Ingredients: Water, sodium laureth sulfate, coco-glucoside, mea-oleate, sodium octyl sulfate, sodium carbonate, sodium polycarboxylate, monoethanolamine, sodium methylglycine diacetate. 

Lotion, $0.75/oz.
Soft on skin. Soft on nature. Made from 100 percent naturally derived ingredients this light, dry-touch moisturizing lotion quickly penetrates your skin. Let it care for the whole family!

Ingredients: Water, helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, stearic acid, olea europaea (olive) oil, persea gratissima (avocado) oil, coco-caprylate caprate, glyceryl stearate & cetearyl alcohol & sodium stearoyl lactylate, glycerin, prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, mangifera indica (mango) seed butter, butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), caprylhydroxamic acid & glyceryl caprylate & glycerin, cucumis sativus (cucumber) fruit extract, sodium hyaluronate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, mixed tocopherols (vitamin E), xanthan gum.

Shampoo bar, $9.41.
All shine. No water. Gentle care for your hair made from 100 percent plant and mineral-based ingredients is in. Make a difference in the world and in your daily routine with our high-quality water-free shampoo bar. Great looking hair without wasting a drop. Try it, you’ll love it.

To keep your bar around for a while, leave it out to dry on a self-draining soap dish away from splashes and humidity. If used and stored properly, it should last you for about 50 to 75 washes. That's equivalent to approximately 1 liter of liquid shampoo, which means a couple of plastic bottles out of circulation (yeah!).

Ingredients: Sodium coco sulfate, kaolin, ledum groenlandicum water extract, prunus armeniaca kernel oil, sodium cocoyl isethionate, glycerin, simmondsia chinensis seed oil, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, grapefruit seed extract, tocopherol, cannabis sativa seed oil, panthenol, althaea officinalis root powder.

(Product descriptions below are from the Dr. Bronner’s website. Please note that prices are from December 2019 and are subject to change.)

Dr. Bronner’s was founded in 1948 by Emanuel Bronner, a third-generation master soapmaker from a German-Jewish soapmaking family. Dr. Bronner’s honors its founder’s vision by continuing to make socially and environmentally responsible products of the highest quality, and by dedicating our profits to help make a better world. 

Dr.Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soaps are good for just about any cleaning task: Face, body, hair and dishes, laundry, mopping or pets.Clean your house and body with no synthetic preservatives, detergents or foaming agents! Need recommendations? Read Lisa Bronner’s Liquid Soap Dilutions Cheat Sheet.

Baby unscented soap, $0.39/oz.
With no added fragrance and double the olive oil, the baby unscented pure-castile liquid soap is good for sensitive skin and babies too (though it’s not tear-free!). Dr. Bronner's soap is concentrated, biodegradable, versatile and effective. Made with organic and certified fair trade ingredients, packaged in a 100-percent post-consumer recycled bottle. 

Ingredients: Water, organic coconut oil*, potassium hydroxide**, organic palm kernel oil*, organic olive oil*, organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, citric acid, tocopherol

*Certified fair-trade ingredients 
**None remains after saponifying oils into soap & glycerin

Peppermint soap, $0.39/oz.
The company’s most popular scent has a peppermint burst so pure it tingles. Scented with organic peppermint oil to cool skin, clear sinuses and sharpen the mind, the peppermint pure-castile liquid soap is concentrated, biodegradable, versatile and effective. 

Ingredients: Water, organic coconut oil*, potassium hydroxide**, organic palm kernel oil*, organic olive oil*, mentha arvensis, organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, mentha piperita, citric acid, tocopherol

*Certified fair-trade ingredients
**None remains after saponifying oils into soap & glycerin.

Citrus soap, $0.39/oz.
Fresh and bright, with an invigorating blend of organic orange, lemon and lime oils, theitrus pure-castile liquid soap is concentrated, biodegradable, versatile and effective. 

Ingredients: Water, organic coconut oil*, potassium hydroxide**, organic palm kernel oil*, organic olive oil*, organic orange oil, organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, organic lemon oil, organic lime oil, citric acid, tocopherol

*Certified fair-trade ingredients
**None remains after saponifying oils into soap & glycerin.

And for help cleaning, try this reusable cloth now available at the Co-op: 

Reusable cleaning cloth, $3.90.
Kliin’s reusable towel is the perfect earth-friendly replacement for paper towels. Dishwasher and machine washable, it holds 15 times its weight in water. Made of 70 percent cellulose and 30 percent cotton, it is 100 percent biodegradable and lasts from 9 to12 months. One Kliin replaces more than 17 rolls of conventional paper towels!