Troy MacConnell
Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU)
Diana Cvitan
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Good Bottle Refill Shop which opened its doors, in 2019, in Maplewood, New Jersey, has found such great success that it has now opened a second location in Montclair, New Jersey. These refill/zero waste shops were innovatively founded by Deanna Taylor-Heacock and are the first of their kind in New Jersey. This is a mission-based business supporting a circular economy intended to reduce single-use plastic and provide an option for consumers to buy their everyday household products in a unique, different way. The business mission is to help consumers reduce the amount of trash they are continually tossing out.
The motto of the business is “Stop buying your trash.” With 23% of all landfill waste coming from plastic containers and packaging, this business is designed to reduce this waste. Good Bottle Refill Shop consumers have the option of bringing their own clean container to the locations or buying one from the locations that can be constantly refilled with purchases made from the selection of cleaning products, bath/beauty products and other cutting-edge zero waste items available in the stores. This business is changing product consumption in a positive way.
Millions of tons of plastic are being dumped and polluting our world each year. This is causing great harm to the environment. When interviewed, Deanna Taylor-Heacock responded with a shocking statistic concerning this pollution problem. She stated, “Only 9% of the plastic that goes into our recycling bins actually gets recycled. This is not sustainable and why we, as a society, need to change the way we buy.” All of society must realize that we must all do our part to support sustainability and be willing to make changes to stop harming the environment.
Ms. Taylor-Heacock is devoted to promoting sustainability and she shared that her business innovation idea “was sparked from a New Year’s resolution to reduce waste.” She claims that she was making huge strides reducing waste in her own home but still had to buy many bottles of cleaning products and bath/beauty products. She wanted a place to refill the same bottles over and over, but after looking online and realizing there were no shops where this could be done anywhere around her, she used her prior business experience to create a business plan and then open her innovative refill/zero waste business to the public.
Owner/Founder Deanna Taylor-Heacock
Deanna Taylor-Heacock’s innovative business is inspirational because of how it reflects her commitment to sustainability for society and the environment. Good Bottle Refill Shops hit the UN Sustainable Development Goal #12, which strives to reach responsible consumption and production. It is inspiring how Ms. Taylor-Heacock persevered with her recognition of the need for the sustainability.
Ms. Taylor-Heacock went to great lengths to plan and design her unique retail business. She opened her business to provide an important service promoting sustainability for the people of New Jersey. Good Bottle Refill Shop has made a positive environmental impact on society. She is inspiring in the way she is doing her part to support sustainability and through her innovative business, she is making it possible for many consumers, who visit her stores, to do their part when it comes to sustainability as well.
Good Bottle Refill Shop has developed a solution to allow people to become more eco-friendly when it comes to supporting the zero-waste movement. This business has potential scalability because it has been proven to be beneficial when it comes to providing a way to be a responsible consumer which benefits our environment. Ms. Taylor-Heacock’s innovative idea has the potential to spread out on a bigger scale to other states and countries because we are all facing the same environmental dangers.
This business has a net-positive impact because it has increased economic prosperity. The economic prosperity is seen in the financial success of Good Bottle Refill Shop as well as for consumers who patronize this business, who save money because they only buy their refill products and not containers again and again. Good Bottle Refill Shop continues to have a tremendous overall impact on promoting a healthier environment and encourages consumers to join their movement.
Deanna Taylor-Heacock opened her business, in 2019, and thanks to its well-received purpose in fulfilling an unmet need for consumers, she opened a second location. Ms. Taylor-Heacock reports that she now has eight employees and a profitable retail business. The concept of the business is quite simple and so is the refill process. It consists of weighing the empty good bottle, filling the good bottle, weighing the now full good bottle, labeling the good bottle, and then paying for the good bottle. Refill stations in the stores are designed to make the refilling process both simple and informative. All the products have refill numbers that help when it is time to weigh and pay for your items. Clear descriptions for what ingredients are included in the products help consumers have confidence that they are buying eco-friendly products.
In addition to in-store shopping, Good Bottle Refill Shop offers what is called the Good Bottle Loop for consumers’ convenience. This consists of consumers ordering online and then picking up items at one of the locations or having them delivered to their doorstep. Free delivery is offered for all orders $25 and over. Once consumers purchase bottles from the store, they keep the pumps and sprayers from their bottles and return empty bottles in exchange for newly filled bottles ordered online. When delivered, empty bottles are picked up and filled bottles are left. Good Bottle Refill Shop buys back their bottles and consumers are refunded bottle for bottle. Good Bottle Refill Shop has strict standard operating procedures concerning cleaning and sanitizing the returned bottles before reuse. Clearly, this innovative retail business has found success and is growing because more and more people are realizing how important it is to live a greener lifestyle.
At Good Bottle Refill Shop, many of their suppliers take back used containers to sterilize, refill, and send back with filled products. Other bulk products are received in eco-friendly packaging that can safely be recycled. This helps the business stay zero waste throughout the entire business process.
Good Bottle Refill Shop is aware of how the impact all the trash we produce negatively effects the environment, and the reality is that even though many people recycle, not all that is designated to be recycled actually gets recycled. This trash pollution, especially from plastic waste, has become a breeding ground for multiple pathogens and has caused harm to wildlife and our waterways. In addition to Good Bottle Refill Shop striving to reach UN Sustainable Goal #12, striving for responsible consumption and production, it also addresses UN Sustainable Goal #14, life below water, which deals with cutting down on pollution in our water due to plastics being dumped and causing negative effects to the quality of water, which effects marine life.
Ms. Taylor-Heacock proudly states, “Short term and long term, we are reducing waste and diverting so many items that would typically go into landfills and waterways.” Her business efforts are clearly positive in helping society and the environment. She says, with pride, her business has “saved over 45,000 bottles from going to landfills.” Congratulations Ms. Taylor- Heacock for your amazing, innovative, flourishing business.
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Deanna Taylor-Heacock, Owner/Founder
