A refillery is a term coined in the zero waste and low waste industry to describe a store where you can bring in your own containers (BYOC) or purchase reusable containers and fill up with personal and home bulk essential goods. Products are sold by weight or each. A refillery is a place that makes it easy to reduce waste by reusing containers.
Our bulk and refill station is the largest, most comprehensive inventory of personal care and home goods items in Stevens Point and central Wisconsin. We carry everything one might need to go zero waste by refilling their containers with essentials. While we don't carry food, we have bulk liquids and powders for your body and home.
What is a "Refillery"?
A refillery is a term coined in the zero waste and low waste industry to describe a store where you can bring in your own containers (BYOC) or purchase reusable containers and fill up with personal and home bulk essential goods. Products are sold by weight or each. A refillery is a place that makes it easy to reduce waste by reusing containers.
How does a Refillery work?
- Choose your container --> Bring in or purchase an empty container.
- Tare --> Weigh your empty container.
- Label --> Write the tare, product name on the container.
- Fill --> Fill the container with the product you need.
- Clean up --> Spills happen, but we don't mind.
- Check out --> Bring to the register where a clerk will subtract the container weight from the total weight.
Terms to know:
- Tare: The starting weight of a container before you fill it.
- PLU/SKU: The code used by the store to know what product is in your container.
- Bulk: tradintionally this means pruchasing large quantities, in a refillery it usually means buying any desired amount of a loose product.
- Closed Loop: The process of using a recieving a container from our supplier and returning it for reuse once it is empty. Learn more below.
Products we carry:
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Home
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Body
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It's a process.
Our bulk refill station started when Rubina was turning Tomorrow River Homestead into a low waste bed and breakfast. They started researching bulk products that were package free, plastic free, and closed loop in order to reduce the excessive orders/shipping, reduce landfill waste and created opportunity for reuse or composting waste.
Rue took the knowledge from extensive industry research and started a "country store" on the porch of their rural homestead. Guest of the homestead and community members to a liking to finally having low waste options.
Since 2019 we have been shaping and honing our refill options. With a few years of research under our belts, we feel confident in how we choose products. Some products are industry standard while others can be hard to come by. Luckily for us, with a booming eco-friendly market growing the choices and prices are more accessible.
We currently only offer a select few bulk items online. Due to packaging, shipping and weight it feels unrealistic to pre-pack many of our products. In some cases it defeats the purpose of low waste. However, for those living within a 30 minute to hours drive of our Stevens Point location, we would be happy to set you up with an at home refillery. Contact us to learn more!
With our community.
We chose not to have food because our local food stores, Stevens Point Area Co-op and Market on Strongs both carry a variety of bulk food as well as our year round Stevens Point Farmers Market. Our owners tend to shop at many local stores versus one big box store to get all their life needs. We encourage our patrons to explore this community commitment as well.
We listen thoughtfully and continue to grow our refillery to fit the needs of our customers. If there is something we need to get we will openly take suggestions or we will research from the market channels we have in place.
Read more at the Stevens Point Journal about our recent store expansion!