June 26, 2024
The following is an interview with Angela Borge of Homebody Refill in Sebastapol, California. The questions are asked by Michael Collins of Teravana.
Thanks for joining us Angela, please share some information about Homebody Refill.
The business started, I believe in 2020, by a woman that had gotten her business going in a farmers market. Then, my mom (Jeanine Borge), my brother (Mateo Borge), and I bought the business in 2023. We try to keep the same goals of researching and offering the best products, zero waste, and single-use plastic in the store. We’re trying to encourage the Sebastopol community to practice as much zero waste as possible, be as eco-friendly as possible, and come refill their containers so that they’re not buying plastic over and over again, and turning their single-use plastic into multi-use plastic.
How would you define your attitude towards the environment and how it relates to your store?
Growing up, my mom, I always thought she was a hippie, but she says she’s too young to be a hippie, so she was kind of like the aftermath. But she was always very much about the environment. We were always a pretty eco-friendly house. One of my inspirations is our aquatic life, and I’ve been involved in trying to keep chemicals out of going into our waterways, out into the ocean, out into our rivers.
Zero waste for us, it’s not just plastic pollution, but it’s also about the chemicals that are going into our ground, into our water, affecting the nature around us that affects us. So zero waste means being not only as plastic-free as possible but also limiting what you’re throwing away. Reusing. A lot of those “recyclable plastics” are being sold and ending up in the ocean and the plastic island that’s floating around. So instead, we want to focus on really reusing and refilling and then reducing our waste as much as possible. Our products are made out of natural ingredients that will biodegrade, like wood, bamboo, sisal, coconut, and anything that is a natural source that will then go back into the earth.
Do you have parameters around what you will sell? In other words, do you have certain things that maybe someone will think, oh, this is very environmentally sound, but maybe you draw the line at certain things?
Yeah, definitely. The more you look into it, it’s like, oh, well, this part’s not or this actually isn’t that sustainable. And maybe they’re derived from nature, but they go back into the waterways as a middle plastic.
So we do have parameters. It’s really hard to source eco-friendly refillable options that come in a big enough amount, but we go through each ingredient and check the Environmental Working Group (EWG) website to make sure that it’s non-toxic for humans and the environment as well. Other stores will sell recyclable plastic, but we’ve drawn the line at not wanting to do that. We don’t want to introduce more plastic into the environment.
How did you come up with the idea around refilling products and can you explain briefly how it works?
It’s easier for big corporations to manufacture a lot of products in a plastic container. It’s just cheaper for them throughout the whole process. So what we’re doing is a little bit more expensive initially, but it feels really good not supporting other big corporations that are not caring for the environment at all, not having to throw away containers again and again. We are supporting, not just our small business, but a lot of other small businesses that we’re also sourcing from.
Refilling is not a new concept, like buying food products in bulk. For household products, we’re expanding a model that’s already been around for a long time. So the best way to do it is to bring a container that you already have. If you don’t have a container, we usually either have free, donated containers, or something else we’re trying to get going, like just kind of moving bottles around to reuse. We’ll weigh it and then we’ll fill it with whatever people want. And then we weigh it again.
What is one product that you sell that is unique and maybe no one has heard of?
I think one of my favorite products that we have is our scrubbies. So, they’re monochromatic and they’re made out of wood pulp and a resin, and you can use them for cleaning your dishes and things, and they’re really scrubby, and they’re completely compostable. Mine have lasted over a year at this point, but when they’re done, you can literally just throw them into your green bin or your compost pile, and they’ll break down. Those are pretty cool. I like those.
How would you say you impact the local community?
So we’re trying to impact people’s health, reducing the waste that’s happening throughout the whole community. We want to help limit that plastic, microplastic situation that’s happening, not just in our bodies. We’re really close to the ocean out here and that’s affecting our sea life. We want to be able to have a place for people to come and participate in preventing more microplastics and to be able to have a home that’s toxin-free as much as possible—a healthier community—and then hopefully a healthier world, big picture.
Do you see yourselves getting products into local event places, or places where people go to visit and stay?
When you think about the hotel industry, retreat industry, or a lot of Airbnbs around Sebastopol, with all those places, it’s hard not to think about how much waste they are generating. I mean, every time someone comes and stays, they have a new shampoo container or conditioner container. There’s just so much waste that happens in places like that. So if we could eliminate that, like we are at Teravana, that would be huge for the community and beyond.
