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Protecting Paradise: Refill, re-use your plastic bottles

News 8's challenge to you is once the bottles are empty, clean them out, and reuse them by filling them up with whatever you like.

SAN DIEGO — In this week's Protecting Paradise, News 8 wants to encourage the idea of reusing bottles and what better place than a store called "EarthWell Refill" in Kensington. That's where you can bring your own bottle and they fill it up.

"Our motto here is simple is better, less is more," says Katrina Oprisko who owns the shop alongside her husband, Kris. They have vats of common household items like laundry detergent, soap, and even vinegar. Also shampoo, conditioner, and lotion, all made in the simplest of ways with things like botanical oils, containing just a few ingredients minus the typical packaging you might see for those items. 

People bring bottles or use the shops reusable ones and they pay for what's put inside, based on weight. "As long as you're reusing just bring it in, it's perfect we just ask people not to buy containers because you already have so many."

Take a look around, cleaning solution, soaps and makeup all come in bottles and often have excess packaging. News 8's challenge to you is once the bottles are empty, clean them out, and reuse them by filling them up with whatever you like.

Katrina admits, "I get depressed when I look into Target and see nothing but plastic everywhere." Some of her customers get depressed, too. One customer says, "I'm tired of pulling plastic bags out of the ocean when I'm surfing so this is my way to do what I can." Another customer says, "the less waste we have to fill the earth with, the better it's going to be."

And for a dose of hope, Katrina says young people are really making this type of sustainable shopping a priority, "I have a lot of kids that bring their parents and some moms say, "my goodness, I never knew."

While this way of shopping for conditioner in bar form or other natural, un-packaged items may seem innovative, Katrina wants to point out this is simply going back to the old ways, "it's not new it's re-visiting what people used to do." Going back to the days when glass jars were kept and used for decades instead of single use plastics that get tossed. "We want to be able to enjoy this Earth, we're the natural caretakers and we want everyone to be a caretaker."

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