People of the OCQ: Paula
Small changes can make a big impact. Since 2021, VI Refillery has diverted over 130,000 containers from entering the landfill in Nanaimo.
We may not blatantly see the negative impact single use plastics have in our everyday life, but for owner Paula McPhee, she has witnessed first-hand how our garbage affects our planet.
“I was a marine biologist for almost 20 years, and in those years, I saw a big change every time I went diving in the amount of garbage that I was seeing in the ocean and how it was affecting our local wildlife,” says Paula. “As a marine biologist, I was making a little bit of a change in showing people what we have around here and the amount of biodiversity that we have here, but it wasn't enough to actually create a change in habits in the people that I was talking to.”
After watching the documentary Trashed, Paula and her husband decided overnight to live a zero waste lifestyle, and it became their purpose to actively engage the community to create more sustainable choices.
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“We got rid of our garbage can,” she says. “That really forced us to think every time we were going to buy something, where we were going to put that waste? If we couldn't dispose of it, then we didn't buy it.”
Paula knew other people believed in the same values as them, but she found resources to access this lifestyle to be very limiting in Victoria at the time.
In 2018, the couple opened the first zero waste grocery store on Vancouver Island, Zero Waste Europium. In Victoria, Paula and her husband advocated for political policy changes and worked with non-profits like the Surf Rider Foundation to bring awareness to the issue.
Then in 2021, they sold the Victoria business and opened up a new store in the Old City Quarter in Nanaimo. VI Refillery is a planet over profit company managed by VI Sustainability Association. The store is located at 309A Wesley Street and is open seven days a week. VI Refillery is a place customers can refill all containers they already have at home with local and sustainable products that are good for them and the environment.
At VI Refillery, over 90% of the products in store are Canadian made with a large portion of those from small businesses on the island. “We are a small business that supports other small businesses,” says Paula, who believes supporting local helps grow the vibrancy of our community.
By refilling, customers are cutting costs, saving the planet, and using better quality products. It’s a win-win all round. Paula says that living a healthy lifestyle should be accessible to everyone.
“Protecting our local environment is the driving force behind almost every decision I make. As an individual, I try to live a sustainable life and help others do the same,” explains Paula. “As a business owner, I want to make sure that my suppliers have sustainable values as well and the products I bring into the store are good for my customers and the environment. I firmly believe that, as a community, we can make a big difference by reducing single use plastics at the source and changing consumer behaviours.”
If one person makes just one small change, like refilling their shampoo bottles instead of buying new every time, then overtime, that one small change can create a big impact. VI Refillery proves that.