SOUTH PORTLAND — GoGoRefill, the new store which seeks to help consumers reduce personal waste and cut out single use plastics, opened July 26 at 64 E St. in Knightville.

The first of its kind in Maine, owner Laura Marston said she hopes to act as a springboard for waste conscious living in South Portland.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 26 million tons of plastic made their way into landfills in 2015. Eight million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year, according to National Geographic.

GoGoRefill takes on the waste by allowing customers to bring their own clean containers (or buy one at the shop) and fill it with earth-friendly products like dish soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and facecare products, all priced per ounce.

“I use many of these products myself,” Marston said. She hand-picks products based on their ingredients as well as their low-waste packaging, manufacturing, and shipping.

“Many of our products are made by people who went plastic free,” Marston said. “They couldn’t find zero-waste options, so they made them.”

GoGo Refill caries refillable makeup products from EK Bare Beauty, whose owner Emily Kate began selling lowwaste makeup products on Etsy after realizing that much of her own footprint came from beauty products. GoGoRefill carries Kate’s lipsticks, bronzers, and elixirs, which customers can put in their own glass containers.

Many of the products in the store are made in Maine and labeled as such on shelves.

Jodi Breau of Cape Elizabeth makes Dental Lace, a petroleum-free, zero-waste silk floss.

“If everyone in the U.S. flossed their teeth according to ADA recommendations, the empty containers would fill a landfill the size of a football field and six stories high,” Marston read off the floss’s package, which Marston describes as “a cute little glass container.”

GoGoRefill sells cleaning products such as laundry detergent, dish soap, and concentrated cleaning vinegar which customers dilute at home.

“At the grocery store, you can only get 5 percent vinegar,” Marston said. The more concentrated vinegar is cheaper for consumers and has a lower carbon footprint. The vinegar is shipped from New York, with no additional packaging. “They slapped a shipping label right on the bucket. The postman said, ‘I’ve never seen that before.’”

GoGo Refill also carries a collection of plastic-free reusable products from U.S. and Canadian companies like reusable paper towels, all-natural dish brushes, food storage containers, menstrual cups, and plastic-free razors with recyclable blades.

Marston said that, down the line, she hopes to serve as a resource and springboard for low-waste living in South Portland.

“I hope the behavior of refilling containers becomes habit for this community,” she said. “I hope people come to me with questions—I love talking about waste!”

Evelyn Waugh can be reached at ewaugh@mainelymediallc.com or 780- 9026.

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