PHOENIX — A lot of thought and preparation goes into helping the environment and local businesses at the same time.

We’re learning about a zero-waste refill store in Phoenix near Central Avenue and Camelback Road doing exactly that. At Desert Refillery, you can find lots of home and beauty products. Shopping there requires you to do a little homework beforehand. 

Signage both inside and outside their store explains it for you. People are told to bring their own container, weigh it at the register, fill it with a product and then pay for what they got.

A majority of things inside come from small businesses. 

“Places like Desert Refillery have offered a transformative space for me to grow my own business,” Naked Fig Soap owner Madeline Harn said. 

Harn has been selling hand-crafted, vegan soaps at the central Phoenix store for more than three years.

“I’m not the only vendor that Tiffany holds space for here, and I just love that so much,” Harn said.

She’s talking about Tiffany Skoyen, who said more than 60% of Desert Refillery comes from small business vendors. 

“We really try to do local first before we expand outside of the state of Arizona,” Skoyen said. “It’s important to support your community.”

Easy, eco-friendly product swaps are also high on the managing partner’s priority list. 

“Our whole mission is to reduce single use plastic. Instead of buying dish soap in another new plastic bottle and throwing it away, you can bring your bottle in and refill it.”

Skoyen said if every household in the Valley refilled their dish soap, it would save four million bottles from the landfill every year. 

“The impact is quite high for one simple swap,” she said.

The business also works to keep fashion away from the landfill. 

“You bring in your clothing, we steam it, put it out on the floor, sell it for you and you get store credit back so you can keep shopping,” she stated. “It’s a great way to reduce fast fashion from the landfill.”

Desert Refillery is hosting a clothing swap event this weekend. It’s happening on Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to noon.

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