We were lucky to catch up with Sami Heller recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sami, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My first memory of environmentalism was when I was in elementary school. My dad, a farmer, was about to toss his McDonald’s bag out of the car window and litter it. I remember getting upset, telling him not to throw it out, and that I’d hang onto it until I found a trash can.
Now that I’m older, I don’t understand why he would’ve wanted to throw garbage onto the very land that provided his income and was his livelihood.
Both sides of my family are from North Dakotan farming communities. The lives they’ve been able to live are because of the nutrient-rich soil of the Red River Valley. On the other side of the very same state, an oil boom brought a flurry of fracking.
To make plastics, you need oil. To get oil, you have to extract it from the earth—emitting millions of tons of CO2 per year and stripping the land bare to lay pipelines. We take from the earth in this exploitative way just to make millions of plastic bottles of hand soap that go straight to a landfill.
This is the perspective I bring to reducing single-use plastics today. Why are we damaging the planet and using our precious resources in such wasteful ways?
I’ll be the first to say that plastic is necessary in many areas of our lives, such as the medical field. It’s also incredibly unnecessary in many parts of our lives, such as packaging.
So, let’s save our resources and carbon emissions for when we need them and find alternatives, like refill stores, for when we don’t.
Sami, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Sami Heller and I’ve brought my partner, Drue McLean, along for the crazy ride of starting our first business! We have sociology and journalism majors and no prior business experience, but we wanted to offer a more accessible way for people to reduce single-use plastics in their homes.
The basic concept of our business, New Moon Refillery, is to continue using packaging that you already have instead of buying more laundry detergent, for example, in a new plastic jug every time you run out. It’s like the bulk section of a grocery store, except we deliver (no storefront)!
We have all kinds of products—dish soap, shampoo, all purpose cleaner, facial toner, and even nonperishable foods like oats, chocolate chips, and a variety of spices. They’re delivered straight to your door without plastic packaging.
We hope to make plastic-free products more accessible for people who live far from brick-and-mortar refill shops, who lack transportation, who have accessibility barriers, or who just like the convenience of delivery!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Since we are delivery only and don’t have a storefront, we knew it would be important to find opportunities to be face-to-face with potential customers.
We decided to do our first farmers market this past summer and it was a great experience! It was a way for us to explain more about our mission and concept, hand out business cards, and let people know that we offer delivery year round.
Since the market has ended, we’ve had several orders from market customers!
We definitely plan to participate in a market next summer.
How’d you meet your business partner?
We are not only business partners, but life partners as well! We are engaged and have been together for over 7 years. We’re proud to be an LGBTQ+-owned business!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.newmoonrefillery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newmoonrefillery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newmoonrefillery
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-moon-refillery