If you’ve given any thought at all to wanting to leave the world a somewhat better place for the generations who come after us, you may find yourself getting discouraged by all the information shared in recent years about single-use plastic pollution. We know now that, even if we’re fastidious about recycling plastic containers, most of the material doesn’t end up getting reused. It can be downright depressing to purchase a product that we need, only to find that it’s sold in a container inside a container inside more packaging. Those domed clear plastic tubs in which our salad greens are marketed? They’re not even recyclable. The greens themselves will turn to slime in a matter of days, but the container will sit intact in a landfill for centuries.
“Plastic lasts forever,” writes Wendy Toman, proprietor of a newly opened business in New Paltz called Second Nature Refillery. “If it degrades on the streets or in the oceans, it breaks down into micro- and nano-plastics, which are ingested by wildlife, marine life and humans. The average person has one credit card worth of plastics in their body at any given time; plastics have been found in human blood, breast milk, placentas, and have surpassed the blood/brain barrier. We are drinking plastics, we are eating plastics, we are breathing plastics.”
Unlike most of us, Toman is taking ambitious steps to change this disheartening situation – acting locally while thinking globally. Her new shop, located on the ground floor of the Zer0Place building on North Chestnut Street (Route 32 North), specializes in health food staples and other household needs, sold in bulk or in refillable containers. If you bring your own clean container, you pay only for the contents.
Sustainability, particularly in the form of waste reduction, became an obsession for Toman when her children were in elementary school in Delaware. “I volunteered in the cafeteria, mostly helping kindergarteners stick straws into drink pouches and open snack bags. I quickly became astounded with the waste! The custodians emptied the numerous garbage cans between every single lunch period! The Styrofoam trays for hot lunches were the worst of all. The dumpsters were emptied daily during the week,” she recounts.
Believing “there must be a better way,” she pitched a districtwide composting and recycling program and convinced school officials that it would save them money. She got the cafeterias organized and was also hired to integrate recycling lessons into the K-12 curriculum at every level. She managed to establish programs in ten out of 24 schools within less than a year – but then her husband, David Toman, was offered a position with the Mohonk Preserve, and the family relocated to a new home near the New Paltz/Gardiner border.
It didn’t take long before Wendy got involved in composting and recycling locally, beginning with volunteer efforts at the Taste of New Paltz event. Soon she became recycling coordinator at the Gardiner transfer station, establishing a “free store” and swap programs on-site, and got involved with the startup of Repair Café. Concerns about possible liability lawsuits over repurposed items at the transfer station led Gardiner officials to shut down the program, and Toman resigned from that position in 2016. She then turned her energies to home cleanouts and estate sales, which led to her establishing a small antique shop – all with the intent of finding new homes for old objects. To address the problem of leftover paint storage in homes and garages, she started the New Paltz Paint Swap program (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2022/07/06/the-new-paltz-paint-swap-keeps-old-paint-out-of-the-landfill-and-saves-money-for-diyers).
All this time, the concept of opening a “refillery” was incubating in Toman’s brain. “I struggled personally to eliminate my own home of plastics, especially in the kitchen and bathroom,” she writes. “Making my own household cleaners and trying to find new uses for yogurt containers and bread bags was not enough. I realized that most people don’t have the time to find alternatives to excessive packaging, and I knew I needed to do something to make it easy for ordinary folks to become conscious consumers.”
The creation of a LEED Platinum-certified, net-zero-energy mixed-use building with retail spaces for rent on a busy, highly visible New Paltz thoroughfare supplied the perfect opportunity for Toman to bring her dream to life. She signed a lease on a 775-square-foot storefront at Zer0Place this past June, furnished it with repurposed wood counters, bins and shelving and opened Second Nature Refillery on November 19.
The sunny front window is filled with big plant pots in which live herbs from Toman’s garden are growing. “You can just buy a sprig for a dollar,” she explains. There are open bins of loose fresh vegetables, mostly from local sources such as Four Winds Farm in Gardiner and Bradley Farm in New Paltz. Toman drives up to the Finger Lakes to bring back eggs, potatoes, apples and onions. You can scoop out your desired quantity of flour (including gluten-free), sugar, salt, cornstarch, oatmeal, baking powder and baking soda, or dispense bulk foodstuffs such as cereals, granola, pastas, rice, barley, quinoa, beans, dried fruits, popcorn, nuts, seeds and peppercorns from the chutes of vertical bins. Whole pickles, Bread Alone loaves, plastic-free teabags and ethically sourced coffee beans from Dry Fly Coffee Company are also available.
Vats of liquids waiting to be tapped include locally made CalmBucha, olive and canola oil, honey, molasses, maple syrup and soy sauce, as well as cleaning agents such as laundry and dish detergents, citrus cleaner, shampoos, conditioners, shower gel and hand sanitizer. You can try hand soaps cut from a block, toothpaste in tablet form, aluminum-free deodorant, compostable bamboo toothbrushes, bamboo scrub brushes with replaceable heads, mesh bags for making your own oat milk or nut milk, pop-up cellulose sponges, even compostable pooper-scooper bags for your dog. Some personal care products are sold in small plastic containers that list ingredients and instructions for use, but only if they’re refillable, Toman says.
So, how does this bring-your-own-container approach work? Some things are obvious, like egg cartons. Toman encourages the use of glass jars, since they’re the easiest to sanitize. Mason and Ball canning jars are the most aesthetically pleasing, but pickle or tomato sauce jars, beer or wine bottles will work just as well. Soup takeout containers, empty yogurt cups, peanut butter jars and shampoo bottles are examples of plastic vessels that can sustain multiple uses. Metal coffee tins are sturdy and long-lasting. Even cardboard cereal boxes and ziplock bags can be used more than once. “Use your imagination, but be sure the containers are clean and free from residue/odors!” Toman writes.
Forget to bring any empty containers, or don’t have the right kind for dispensing? “No worries! We have free donated containers as well as new ones for sale starting at $1, all washed and sanitized according to the New York State law. We also provide free small Kraft paper bags for dry goods. Our new containers include all types of vessels and tops, such as pour spouts for oils/vinegar/soy sauce, wide-mouth for granola/pasta and pumps for shampoo/lotion/soaps (even metal ones suitable for shower). All of these vessels are forever-refillable!”
The procedure for bulk purchase is to weigh the empty container, with lid, on a self-service scale and write down the tare weight on a sticker provided. After you’ve filled the container, it’s weighed again, the tare weight subtracted from the total and your purchase price computed accordingly by ounce. By not having to pay for the packaging, you end up saving money on high-quality products, sourced locally wherever possible.
Inventory at Second Nature Refillery will vary seasonally and based on availability. Fresh bread and pastries from Bread Alone are delivered on Thursdays and Saturdays for now. “Future plans that have the common theme of reducing waste of all shapes and sizes include a community compost dropoff, a bread share, eco-friendly craft workshops, tea and storytime, educational movie nights, a picnic/party supplies share and so much more!” says Toman.
Currently, store hours are from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, with expanded hours anticipated as business picks up and new staff can be hired. Use the shop entry at 87 North Chestnut Street. Free parking is available along Route 32 and for up to two hours in the Zer0Place lot, including all parking spaces marked “EV Charging Station” except for the two EV stations directly in front of the Zer0Place main entrance. Handicapped parking is located on the Mulberry Street side. Second Nature is accessible via the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, with bike-locking stations right outside the door. To learn more, visit www.secondnaturerefillery.com or www.facebook.com/second.nature.ny.
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