On March 21, the sustainability initiative at St. Thomas University highlighted local business Consciously Clean Refillery as part of STU Sustainability Week, with a booth in Sir James Dunn Hall offering coupons and sustainable products.
The business’ products containers have the option to be refilled once used, reducing the single use of plastics as a part of their zero waste mission.
The e-commerce site was launched in 2021 by Carolyn Gibbons. Upon moving to Fredericton, Gibbons made the decision to open a physical location after noticing that in the wake of refilleries popping up in Canada, the city did not yet have one. The brick-and-mortar store opened in 2022.
“It’s not in the dictionary yet, but [a refillery] is just a retail shop that’s promoting low-waste living and selling things by weight, specializing in reducing single-use waste,” Gibbons explained.
The products range from laundry detergent, to dish soap, to health and beauty products. Gibbons centred her refillery around these because of her heightened ingredient awareness upon starting a family.
She said she was already a customer of many of the brands she offers in store.
“That was a natural progression to me,” she said. “So it was easy, when I was getting started, to start wholesale accounts with brands I was already familiar with, knew the ins and outs, trusted the ingredients, trusted where they were manufacturing and how they were manufacturing.”
Along with consuming more sustainable ingredients, Gibbons wanted to live a generally more sustainable life to set an example for her children and positively shape the world they would be growing up in.
“That was the big shift for me and it’s something you really can’t unsee. Once you let it in, it can be overwhelming … I want to help make a positive impact, so that my children and their children and the generations to come will see the positive change and we can maybe undo some of the damage we’ve done.”
Gibbons felt it was important to get involved in Sustainability Week, having an ongoing relationship with STU Sustainability and other students as interns and customers.
She said it was great seeing young people interested in developing positive sustainable habits, even before owning their own home.
“And I hope we can continue to spread that … it really is planting the seeds that eventually will grow.”
As for how students can live more sustainably, Gibbons said it’s important to reflect on how consumerism affects them and cut down on unnecessary purchases.
“At the core, less is more. It really comes down to why I named it Consciously Clean, being aware of your day to day habits … Why are we purchasing things? Is it necessary? What is the footprint of these things we’re purchasing from? Where are we purchasing?”
“If you have that foundational knowledge and awareness of your footprint, it will serve you well and you’ll be able to make the conscious decisions to impact the planet less.”
