Maplewood Momtrepreneur Saved $10K A Year By Refilling Products

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Deanna Taylor-Heacock, a Maplewood businesswoman and mother of two, looked at her credit card statements in 2018, saw how much she spent at big box stores, and thought she could do better. She came up with ways to refill products instead of buying new ones — and saved $10,000 in a year.

This past September, she opened Good Bottle, a refill and reuse shop in Maplewood, the first one in the New York City metropolitan area. There, consumers can buy refills of cleaning products, bath and body products, laundry detergents, and more.

With 23 percent of landfill waste coming from containers and packaging, Taylor-Heacock hopes to make the transition toward a greener home a bit simpler. Consumers can bring their own container or buy one at the store.

In addition to bulk products, Good Bottle offers eco-conscious alternatives to common single-use products like plastic wrap, Ziploc bags, paper towels, and more.

While saving money on refills and single-use containers, Taylor-Heacock stumbled upon the zero-waste movement. With more than eight million tons of plastic being dumped into the oceans each year, she thought there could be a better way.

She took her 15 years’ experience as a buyer at Macy's and Bloomingdale’s and used a website called Bare Necessities to find vendors for her shop.

The refill process at her shop is simple:

1. Weigh your empty Good Bottle
2. Fill the bottle with a product
3. Weight the (now full) bottle
4. Label it
5. Pay for the goods

Good Bottle is located in the General Store Cooperative Café and Marketplace at 1875 Springfield Ave. in Maplewood. Hours of operation are Wednesday, 10 to 5; Thursday 10 to 7, Friday 10 to 5, Saturday 10 to 5, and Sunday 10 to 4. For more information, visit www.goodbottleshop.com and find Good Bottle Shop on Facebook and Instagram.

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