Making your dream a reality is never easy, but if you ask the owners of the newly opened Nickel Refillery, anything is possible when you have a motivated team and supportive community rallying behind you.
On Oct. 5, co-owners Liz Anawati, Trista LeBlanc and Julie Rodriguez opened the doors to Northern Ontario's first zero-waste store, the Nickel Refillery.
They were met with a crowd of supporters at the Regent Street shop over the course of the day, around 350 to be more specific, eager to “get their fill” of this eco-friendly store and the lifestyle it promotes.
"We weren't expecting this kind of response," Rodriguez said. “We can't believe we did this. We finally get to share what we wanted — our dream with the community and they want that too, so yes, it was all worth it."
The Nickel Refillery offers a variety of environmentally and ethically responsible self-care, home, and food supplies in limited to no packaging, to be collected and purchased using reusable containers. The process works by weighing a container either brought from home or purchased on location, then weighing it again at checkout once the product has been added.
As of the Oct. 5 opening, bulk items included laundry detergent, shampoo and conditioner, frozen fruit, kombucha and hummus.
Stand-alone products included toothpaste tabs, loofahs, beeswax food wrap and sticky-tape free pet hair removers.
While Rodriguez said while some suppliers have opted to have their containers returned for reuse, the remaining “waste” from these bulk-sized products such as bins, bags, and boxes, will be given to members of the community according to need.
Some of the store's five-litre pails, for example, have been promised to a local community centre for the creation of an indoor garden, she said.
With opening day behind them, Rodriguez said the Nickel Refillery can focus on community initiatives such as Terracycling, in-house workshops, and expanding their services to the greater Northern Ontario community. This won't be easy, but it also won't be the first time these ladies were faced with what appeared to be an insurmountable challenge.
But while opening day was credited as a success by the three store owners, Rodriguez admits the journey was not without it's challenges.
Owners of the Nickel Refillery all have full-time jobs, one within the federal government and the others within the medical field, and two have young children at home. This, said Rodriguez, is the reason the store will be operating on limited hours for the time being, but also what allowed this dream of theirs to come to fruition.
"We're not in this for (it) to be our income - we saw a need," she said.
While Rodriguez said she has always been health-conscious, it wasn't until she helped introduce a family of her own that she realized the true extent of her plastic output.
This realization came with what Rodriguez described as “eco(logical) grief,” which comes when people recognize the dangers associated with climate change but don't know what they can do to help.
This eco grief inspired Rodriguez to begin volunteering within the zero-waste community with groups such as the non-profit organization, Plastic-Free Greater Sudbury, to reduce her family's waste and help others do the same. It was through this particular organization that she met Liz Anawati, who was chair of the board of directors at the time and acquaintances with Last Straw Sudbury co-owner, Trista LeBlanc.
The group began volunteering on behalf of Plastic-Free Greater Sudbury through independent events and weekly markets, but Rodriguez said they soon began to realize the demand for sustainable products was far greater than what this particular non-profit was designed to accommodate.
After spending what Rodriguez describes as a considerable amount of time mulling over the idea, she said the group decided around December 2018 to take the first steps towards their own zero-waste facility.
The team secured a storefront in May 2019, which was when Rodriguez said they realized a bit more cash flow would be needed to achieve their vision. Fundraising seemed like the most appropriate answer said Rodriguez, but finding that projects such as bake sales would take time and attention away from the store's grand opening, the group opted to use the online crowdsourcing service Indiegogo, instead.
Despite having done no solicitation of businesses or corporations, Rodriguez said the Nickel Refillery managed to raise more than $9,000 through their Indiegogo campaign. These funds were allocated to the purchase of items they may not have otherwise been able to afford, but Rodriguez said that beyond that benefit, the campaign was an incredible boost to their team's morale.
"We saw that others were equally interested in investing in this kind of service for the community," she said. "People are spending their own money to do this - they want this."
The Nickel Refillery is open Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. until further notice. The store is located at 227 Regent St.
Find more information on the Nickel Refillery and the motivation behind their project here.
