Innovation

This business is based on promoting the stoppage of single-use plastic products. Sarah and her company rely on their customers bringing in a recycled container, or up-cycling one of Sarah's shops' already used containers. From there, the customers can fill up on a wide variety of environmentally friendly, and ethically produced range of items including cleaning products, personal care items, accessories, and even pet care items.

Sarah and her business focus on removing waste products from the world, and this connects to more than one of the SDG's goals. The main goal would be responsible consumption and production, which ensures sustainable consumption and production patterns. Sarah uses vendors that create environmentally friendly products, and produce them the right way. The shop also focuses on goals 13: Climate Action, 14: Life Below Water, and 15: Life on Land. Its impact on these goals is to reduce the world's pollution and reduce the amount of plastic that is put back into the environment.

Sarah and the shop's mission is to give people in her community a place where they can make an impact on the world and the environment.

Inspiration

Back in 2019, Sarah was throwing out an empty shampoo bottle in her recycling bin, and she realized that even though she was putting it into the recycle bin, her empty bottles will never be put to use again. From there she asked herself, "what can I do to change this, where do I go from this realization?" A few days later she was on the phone with her daughter and began telling her about her realization, her daughter explained that there was a “refill” shop located by her in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sarah was so interested in the concept of a refill shop that she decided to take a trip to Massachusetts and meet with the store's owner, Sarah Levy. Levy encouraged Devin to follow her lead, and start what she could. She even gave Devin some of the vendors she used who ethically made their products. Levy gave her all this information because she knew that they weren’t competing for their business, but working on the same mission: making the world a more sustainable place to live.

Overall impact

Sarah began her UnWrapped journey at a farmer’s market in Asbury Park; while they were only a small stand in the market, it helped Sarah engage with the people of her community, talk about her mission, and what she wanted to get out of it. Asbury Park has a large community that focuses on preserving our earth, which helped Sarah out a lot because once these people learned of her mission, they supported her and helped her spread it as well. When the farmer’s market closed for the season and she got great feedback from her customers, Sarah looked into opening a permanent store there.

The United States National Park Service estimates that the environmental decomposition of plastic bottles can take up to 450 years. Therefore, the environmental impact of single-use plastics is a serious issue that will hurt future generations. Sarah conservatively calculated that in just two years, sales of her refillable products have prevented at least 1200-16 oz. bottles from being disposed of in landfills. She doesn't even account for the other refillable sizes she provides in her estimation. It is essential to think that everyone can influence change. The website for Unwrapped states "No effort is too small, and every bit makes a difference. We are all works in progress!” and this is the best way to capture the change they are making.

Business benefit

By reusing and reducing the number of plastic bottles used in her community, Sarah slowly creates a drop in the amount of plastic being put back into the environment. Even though Sarah is only affecting a small community, all movements start out small at one time. With the community already behind her and supporting her, Sarah can continue to influence others to create change, no matter how small, just like she did. In time, when the smaller businesses become larger ones, the world will be able to create more of a change. It all starts with one person who wants to live in a better place.

Social and environmental benefit

This innovation benefits the environment in so many ways; especially climate change, as well as life on land, and below water. When companies like Sarah’s allow people to refill their plastics with their environment-friendly products, it helps reduce the amount of garbage on the streets and helps reduce pollution. Promoting the principle of this refilling system helps to protect the world's most precious resource, water, from pollution, the home of thousands of marine species. As it strives to preserve the ocean's global system, this innovation ensures a much more sustainable future by safeguarding not just people and the environment, but also animals.

Interview

Sarah Devin, Founder, Proprietor, and Operator