Creating the Bring Your Own Shop with Julie Darrell

In this episode, I'm joined by Julie Darrell, founder of Bring Your Own Long Beach, a refill station helping you find package-free soaps, body care, and other household products.

Tune in to:

• Hear the story of how Julie transmuted her environmental angst into an entrepreneurial journey;
• Learn about how working inside and alongside community is the antidote for the sustainability movement; and
• Get a better understanding of the zero waste movement.

You can find BYO's locations or learn more through:

• Website
• Instagram

Transcript

The story behind Julie and BYO Long Beach

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Life can sometimes feel like a lot, but you don't have to do it alone. I strongly believe that we're stronger together. Here we're going to slow down, have real talks, make sense of things together, and explore ways to intentionally grow the life you love. We're going to talk about mental and physical health relationships, money, work, and community. Welcome to Reddit in Attention. With me, Getty Nagomid. Hi everyone, thank you for tuning in for another episode. Today we're going to be exploring how one local business is moving forward the zero waste movement. And I'm joined by a special guest, Julie Darrell. She is the founder of Bring Your Own Long Beach, a refill station helping people find package-free soaps and body care products. So, Julie, thank you so much for joining me. And to get us started, can you share a little bit about your journey in the environmental health space and kind of how did Bring Your Own come about?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I um have a background in more like art, interior design and architecture. So not at all related to this. But in 2016, after the election that we had, I started to feel really convicted about what I can do on a personal level because I knew at the time things like environmental regulations were going away and the it just felt all so overwhelming. But I understood the idea of collective action and I knew that other people were trying their best to get plugged into wherever it made sense for them. And I started looking at ways to improve the health of our family and also the health of our environment community around us. And I knew one of those things was to reduce toxic ingredients and products and also reduce plastic waste because of how toxic plastic is in the environment from the beginning during production all the way through disposal and who it harms along the way. Of course, I didn't know the intricacies of all of that at the time, but I understood enough that I wanted to take action. I started, you know, and I was already doing things like bringing my own reusable water bottle and grocery bags to the grocery store, but I knew there was another next step to that, but I just needed to figure out what that was. And so I uh was at the library with my kids and I found this book called Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson. And I started like flipping through it and I was like, this is interesting. So I borrowed it, and I really got, I really dug in and I ended up renewing that checkout four or five times. I think the maximum, I don't remember how many maximum times you can check it out. Um, I ended up buying the book eventually because I felt like it was really valuable. There were so many ideas and recipes for making your own products, and so I was making a lot of my own products, but that's not super sustainable for me long term. So I wanted a place where I could refill my own like cleaning products and personal care products, and it didn't exist here. So I decided to give it a try myself.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah, that's one of the most powerful things, and I think realizations that I've come in terms of so many things in life is just like the power of small changes or small things that we can do. And I really think that all the actions that we take ripple out. And I like what you were saying around the collective action of just realizing how much we actually have within our power. And I think sometimes in terms of even the supply and demand that companies have, and as much as it's sometimes there is a lot of accountability that that has to be held by corporations and larger companies, just knowing that we have a role to play when we are purchasing things and we are increasing that demand. And because of that demand, there comes the like supplies that they end up moving forward. So I really appreciate hearing your story. I wanted to do something, and this is what I felt was within my power.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah, I mean, it's you know, voting with your dollars. And I know sometimes people say, oh, it's all, you know, it's the corporation's fault, it's big oil, it's big plastic on all of these things. And that's 100% true. But also our daily habits are really transformational. We rely so much on convenience over sustainable choices. And so we order DoorDash and we order Amazon and we just like sometimes forget that on the back end how harmful that can be. And it's no shaming to anybody because you know there are times when you have to use utilize those systems, but in big picture, you you it's good to just analyze what it is that you can sacrifice and what it is you can adjust and keep improving, never stop. You know, you always have to keep learning better ways to do things.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah, and to what you're saying about the convenience part, I think that's the thing that I actually heard like within your story is hey, like I actually started trying to make a lot of my stuff at home and I realized that that wasn't very sustainable. And I think that's the reality for so many individuals and families is just taking into account how the economy is, the number of hours that people are having to work is sometimes you can't go and just make all of your own things. And I think that's why it's so important to like, okay, how do we find balance and what is it that we can do? And being able to tap into, hey, let's maybe we're not making our own things, but we can go to a refill station and buy more sustainable products as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah, I was, I mean, I was realizing how much I was driving around to get all these different ingredients to make, you know, for one example, a laundry detergent. I would make my own laundry powder. And then, you know, I found a company that makes it, you know, with good ingredients and it's a smaller business. And I figured, why not just support them instead? And so, you know, as I started looking for more vendors for my shop, I found things for everything. So there's, you know, there's stuff out there that's available to us.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

And can you share a little bit about the entrepreneurial side of creating Bring Your Own? What did that look like? Because you obviously had a vision of moving it forward. What were some of those hurdles, those ups and downs that you had to really navigate through to create this business?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

This is something I'm still working on because I have never run my own business before. I didn't go to school to learn about business. I I was an art school major. So I was, you know, I always worked for someone else, and I didn't know how to even, you know, file my sales tax or get a business license or get, you know, just any of the paperwork side of things was not my strong suit. Creative side is there, but you have to have the logical side, the, you know, the side that's gonna, you know, track your budget and your finances and everything. And that wasn't there. But I'm I'm working on it and I'm much better than I was the first couple of years, and I've learned a lot. But yeah, it's I at one point I was I had four locations and it just wasn't a sustainable model for me. I whenever someone would offer, like, hey, I'm thinking about opening this location, and I would be so excited. So I'm like, yes, let's do it. And I ended up, you know, basically having burnout. And I it wasn't a sustainable thing for myself or my family. And so now I am down to two locations, and it seems like the perfect balance for me where I can still have a day off here and there and um and still have impact on the communities. And it's fine, people, you know, may not have as many locations to choose from, but they can still find what they need and or maybe there's another location that popped up in their neighborhood that's closer to them. We want you to support what's local to you.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah, I think that's such a real thing of what is gonna make this not just environmentally sustainable, but like emotionally and sustainable for a human being and financially too.

Things to consider if you want to start a refill shop in your community

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Yeah, because if it's if your business model is not even breaking even and having a loss every year, which I did have for several years, um, it you have to decide am I gonna like focus in on what are the non-negotiables about like what products I'm selling and wages I want to pay for people. Those are just like non-negotiables. So you have to make it work. And so the one way to make it work was okay, I'm just gonna focus all my energy in these two locations, and that means I'm taking on more hours myself, and that's fine, but also it it helps save costs. I started doing my own bookkeeping and a lot of things. It's like all done internally to help save money and make it financially stable.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

What recommendations would you have for someone where it's like, I think this is some like great work and I want to start something like this in my community? What recommendations, tips, suggestions would you have for folks?

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Well, there are people out there that provide like consulting, which is really valuable because first you want to find out, is your community, is there enough people in your community to support this? Um, I think that was one thing I didn't research well for one of my locations. And it just, you know, you have to build up the community if it doesn't, if you don't see that it already exists. And one of the things that helped me do that was to do pop-ups and farmers markets. So you start to build that clientele and you can educate people at the same time, and they can find value in it and understand how it works. And so you start that momentum. I mean, I started my Instagram probably six months before, maybe even longer before I even had a brick and mortar location, just building that momentum and like going out in the community, attending any pop-up I could. And I think that's the biggest part right there. Um, because if you just have the money and the capital to just open a store, that doesn't guarantee you're gonna have customers lining up. You have to really be rooted in community.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

I have a community background and I think the education piece is so true in building the community, even and having those two things at play. I'm curious, what were the conversations like at the beginning? What were people the most interested in learning about?

SPEAKER_01 11:16

I think that the number one question I still get to this day is can I bring my own container? And it's funny because the name of my shop is called BYO, bring your own. But they need that reassurance that it's like, I won't be judged if I'm bringing in my old shampoo bottle that's from like Target or whatever. It doesn't, it doesn't matter if it's plastic, it doesn't matter if it's another brand, we don't care. Everything is sold by weight, so you can bring your own. It doesn't matter, even if it's a mason jar and you're gonna put, you know, laundry detergent in it. It whatever you want to put your stuff in, it doesn't matter to us. So that's probably the the number one question. But you know, there's there's a lot of communication you have in the beginning to like figure out what it is they understand about plastic pollution. Um, some people don't really understand that if they put plastic in the recycle bin, it doesn't necessarily get recycled. Less than, I mean, it's probably close to 5% of plastics are actually recycled. So I think that it has to be a light bulb in their head to understand why you would even want to do it in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

And I saw on your website that you still do community education. It seems alongside a partner. Would you say a lot of that education are around these similar topics, or do you guys dive deeper into other things?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So the nonprofit partners I work with, it's called Aguilita Marine Research and Education. They were founded over 25 years ago by Charles Moore. And he was the one that that basically brought awareness about about the um Great Pacific garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean. And so his mission was to go and collect samples and and let scientists know and you know, politicians know and understand what's happening out there with our plastic pollution and how it really starts out here on land. So they've been doing the work in the community long before I was even in Long Beach. And they have now they have a staff that focuses now on the education component. So it's mostly junior high and high school kids. And so they have um they have some online components to it through the Wayfinder Society, where anybody in the world can participate. And it's almost like earning badges and like doing all these. There's different, there's different lessons or different tasks you can do in your community through that website. And they have different grants that they can earn for actually putting that implementation into action, like real action in their community, anywhere in the world. So that's amazing. And then on a local level, they do classes for uh different school groups, and so they will host them at the Algolita headquarters, but also take them out into the marina on kayaks, or they'll take them down to the beach and they'll collect some sand and learn how to sort and pick out the microplastics and know what it looks like. Um, and then they'll put it under a microscope. And so it's a full education for these kids. And it's really cool to see them light up when they come into the store, often at the end of their whole field trip, they'll bring them to the store and they will see in action a solution, an easy solution for a lot of the problems they were encountering with plastic pollution. So seeing a refill store in action, and then they can even, if they want to purchase some and refill their own bottle that day, they can. So it's it gives them something concrete to understand and hold on to that there are solutions out there. And it's really cool to be connected with them. So I mean, I can't take any credit for any of you know all of the stuff that they do. I'm just there as the shop and just being like, hey, this is this is the solution right here. So it's really fun to see the kids get excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

I feel like that's such a necessary step to the education piece, especially around big issues like environmental health and the plastics thing, because I think sometimes it can just feel so overwhelming and you hear all these stats and you're just kind of left like, damn, like yeah, but yeah, and I think that's one of the things they struggle with is like, how do we make this fun and educational but not too dark?

SPEAKER_01 15:42

So the kids aren't just depressed about their, you know, what we're leaving them. We need to have, you know, the they even talk about careers, you know, what kind of careers you can go into and how no matter what you're what you go to school for, you may end up in a different place, just like me. But you can use some of those skills that you've uh learned to apply to different things. So one of the people on Alga Lita staff has a background in politics, and she worked for different senators and different representatives. And that really helped her learn, you know, those skills with talking to politicians and and how their brain works and what's the best way to reach them. And so it doesn't matter what you go to school for, there's almost anything you can use those skills to help in this situation.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

I remember hearing at a young age, I think someone came to speak at my school and they were sharing a stats of how many times people change their career or what they do for work. And I was just like, yeah, what you go to school for might not be exactly what you end up doing later in life, later in life. And I'm curious, since you have an art background, are there any ways that you incorporate that into bring your own?

SPEAKER_01 16:56

It's kind of a bit of a stretch. I mean, working. So my job was I did the construction documents. So basically the blueprints for projects for hotels and restaurants, and before that, office buildings and corporate kind of stuff. But I mean, I think the only way I really like used those exact skills was when I had my dad, we worked together to design and build the shelving in my shop because there was nothing out there that really did well for a refill setup, especially in an earthquake-prone zone. I just didn't want all the bottles to just fall on the floor, you know, with a good shake. So we designed a custom shelving unit to house all of the bottles to keep them a little bit safer. It's still not 100%, you know, earthquake proof, but it's for a small one, it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

But yeah, I mean, I used some of the design skills I got or I learned for some of my stuff, but it's very, it's a bit of a stretch.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

And I'm curious, when you were making your own products, did you feel like that was a creative outlet as well? Because I know I've seen videos of people making just their soaps and lip balms. And I was just like, it's so asthmard and calming.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah, it really, I did enjoy, you know, when I was first banking some of my stuff, I really did enjoy that. Just like making food for your family or, you know, whatever it is, it is a creative outlet. I still enjoy cooking all the time for the family. And so I find creative outlets in other ways. Plus, my kids are still in school, so I gotta help them with their homework. And so I have some creative outlet there too. But um, I think being out with people, especially at the farmers market, it helps me keep creative juices flowing because you're always thinking of how you can make things better or more understandable for people. And you know, what kind of what should I have on my banner in my tent so that it's clear like what this business is? You know, people walk up and are like, Are you selling honey? You know, because they see these big glass bottles and they don't really understand why I'm at the farmers market. Uh so having the visuals there so people can understand right away. Oh, okay, I understand what this is. So that's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Would you say most of your outreach happens at farmers markets? Yeah, for sure. The most.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

You know, we do get people walk in in the store just off the street that are just in our neighborhood, because I'm located, my my flagship location is in the downtown Long Beach in the East Village Arts District. So we have um art walks and we have different events that happen down there. So we do get and people that just live in downtown and are just out exploring. So we do get some random people walk in and not know what it is. So it's really it's good to have those conversations with people too.

Deciding whether to make or purchase products for the shop

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I keep going back to a little bit of what you were saying about making your own products. I'm curious, does bring your own, do you guys make any of your own products or are you completely purchasing off of other people, other companies?

SPEAKER_01 20:06

That's a great question. I think that's another one that gets asked quite a bit too is do you make all your products? And right off the bat, we do not. We make very little. So because there are already makers doing it and doing it more efficiently and and better. Yeah, I was when I first started, I was making my own beeswax wraps to sell at farmers markets. And I was, I do a little bit of sewing, not like super complicated stuff, but I was sewing my own utensil sets to sell. So I was making some things just to help like bring in more cash flow so I could support some of those other products that I wanted to purchase. But as I got busier and busier, I had less and less time to do that consistently. Now I source it out to another local maker and have them make it and we'll sell it in our shop. The only thing now that I make semi-regularly is a tea blend called Julie's ginger tea. And it has ginger and licorice root and lemongrass. It was just a tea blend that I drank a lot of when I was pregnant and uh nauseous, so it really helps with that. And even after not being pregnant anymore, it's still a really good tea. Um, and then the other product we make in-house is a dry shampoo, but which is basically like a powder that you can put into your hair to help absorb excess oils. So I make that and it's called Julie's dry shampoo. That's pretty much it. Everything else I leave to the experts that have a whole setup. They have bottling facilities in some cases, or they have more professional looking labels. So let them do it. And then we have a place for people to buy those things. Because a lot of the people we buy from don't necessarily want to have a store or are they really a creative person, but they're not really maybe the kind of people that want to um have customers. Interaction. So we're that place. We're everything is in one place.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

And I think to what you were saying of just creating sustainability for yourself. And it's just like, why pour the energy into making all the products when some people are already doing it and then working together and bringing things together?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, when I was making the beeswax wraps on a regular basis, my husband would come home from work and be like, Oh, you're making beeswracks, beeswax wraps again, because the whole house would smell like melted beeswax, which is a nice smell for a minute, but it's not a nice smell when it's like all day long and you're like trying to also cook and make appeasing or appetizing meals. It still smells like wax. Not great.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Yeah. Did you have any favorite recipes around other things that you were making beyond the teas?

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah, I did make also um from the Bea Johnson uh Zero Waste Homebook, which we have a few copies left in our store, but otherwise get it from the library. She makes a multi-purpose balm, and it has beeswax and jojoba oil and essential oils. And I think there might be one or two other things. We actually have it, the recipe posted on our website, just a little bit tweaked. And it's just a little balm that you can use as like a lip balm or like cuticle cream or like even for polishing boots, like leather boots or shoes or purses, because it's it's like hydrating and natural and it doesn't have like oil. Um, what do you call it? It has oil, but not like harmful oils or or chemicals in it. So that's a fun one. We actually did a workshop a few years ago with the city of Long Beach where we for the holidays we were they were crafting different handmade gifts, and one of the ones that we were doing was the multi-purpose balm, and everybody was like having fun putting in all their essential oil blends that they wanted to do. So that's really fun.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

That's such a fun activity. And yeah, I know I've attended some community workshops where people end up making their own household supplies and using things like vinegar and and baking soda. And I think to what we were saying around how helpful it is to have some like actions in place that you can do is just so important, I think, in helping address like one's own anxiety, but then also thinking again about how those actions end up rippling out into the community.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

For sure. I did I the city really does some really great workshops. I would say 20 years ago almost, I did the workshop for composting. And they, you know, you could buy a discounted compost bin, and we still use that same compost bin today. And we even transferred it from our old house to our new house with the compost. So, I mean, you can get plugged into the city um where you live and find what kind of uh workshops are available. They also do the natural cleaning products workshop and rain barrel workshops. We actually just hosted one last week for our community, but yeah, and then you meet other people at those workshops and you get plugged into other things that are happening. So it's really cool.

Sustainability as an evolving practice

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Canto what you were saying is that community building and how helpful it is. I'm curious, since you've been not just like in business, but also implementing a lot of intentional actions around how to practice sustainability more at home. What do you think are some things that you view differently now than when you first read the zero waste book?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

One of the major, I would say, controversial things in the zero waste homebook is that Bea Johnson had a mason jar that had all of her trash from like five years. And that was something that I knew I couldn't accomplish, even on my best day. You know, I have a family of four, and it so does she, which is super impressive. But we own a house, and so like there's so much with having a home that is beyond our control. So I think that I tried my best to accomplish as zero waste as possible, but I think the pandemic, if nothing else, taught us that there's just so much out of our control. And sometimes you have to buy things in plastic. And so I was very strict on myself and I wasn't too strict on my family, although maybe they felt like I was initially when I was, you know, on this bandwagon to like reduce our plastic waste. But I've learned to soften my tone. And also, you know, when you go to family events where, you know, there's, you know, plastic utensils and styrofoam plates and all of these choices that make you cringe. You have to realize that it is out of your control. And maybe there are times where you can make a suggestion and say, Hey, can I bring the silverware next time? Or I'd love to provide my my plates and take them home afterwards and wash them. It's just not always going to work, and we can't control every situation. So just being flexible when you need to be flexible, but also just doing your best and keep improving on yourself. It's not a competition with other people, it's just a competition with yourself and trying to do the best you can within your means. I know that sometimes cost is an issue. Um, you know, not everyone can afford to get the organic refillable products, but maybe, you know, you work together with a friend and try to go in together on something and split the cost. Or, you know, for us, for example, we're down the street from a grocery outlet and sure they have some stuff in packaging, but we can walk there versus driving, you know, 30 minutes or 20 minutes to get things in bulk. So we when we when I make a plan and I do a trip and I do a big haul of bulk refillables, I do that. But sometimes when you're just like, oh shoot, I just need this, this product for this recipe or whatever, sometimes it's just it makes more sense to just walk to the corner store and get the thing that you need. So it's just finding that balance.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

I appreciate the more like balanced version because I at some point worked at an environmental health organization and I have a public health background. And I remember when I first started, I was learning about all of the issues and pollution and the toxics and products. And I went down the rabbit hole of trying to like reduce all of these things. And there's a lot of emotional energy that goes into that. And it could sometimes be a little bit paralyzing, I think, when you open up Pandora's box and you realize all of the different things that could be wrong, and then finally coming back to that place of you know what, what are the things that I value that I want to prioritize? And how can this look a little bit different on the day-to-day? And like you were saying, maybe I'm gonna buy this like one thing that's in a plastic container, but I actually walked to the grocery store and then like practicing that like compassion with yourself of just like whatever I'm doing, it's gonna be okay. And it's more about the like intentional actions in the big picture and how things will add up.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Yeah, and and fitting it into the time constraints that you have. I know one of the things that, you know, if I don't have fresh greens in the house, I'm not gonna eat them. And it's in it, I have the best intentions of buying like spinach that's completely package-free or whatever that is. And because it's so much work to really clean it, chop it, store it, there are some times where I'm like, you know what? This week I'm buying the biggest container I can of spring greens, and that is gonna make me eat the salad. And I prep it all, and like that's one last thing that I have to prep. And it's what gets me to eat the vitamins and nutrients that I need. Uh yeah, I have different food sensitivities, so I have to be careful of what I'm eating, and um it would be really easy to just eat something that's gonna make me feel sick in the long run and not be good for me. I need to sometimes just buy a thing of pre-washed spring grains that are ready to eat, and that's okay because I'm I'm buying the package-free carrots, I'm buying the package-free lots of other things. It's just the one thing that I'm like, this is something that I know it's gonna be an investment in myself, in my own health, and we have to also keep that in mind. But for other people, I mean, they may enjoy that process and feel like it's really a hands-on way that they feel like works for them. So it's gonna look different. That's why I really think it's important to not be passed judgment on people for the different things that they have. And it and showing is better than telling. So just keep doing your thing. And I know there's a lot of people that come in and they're like, oh, my partner or my kids or what whoever they live with, or my parents, if they're still living at home, it's hard to get them to make these changes. And you can't make them make those changes. You have to just keep doing what you're doing, and maybe they'll get on board and maybe they won't. But I'm really fortunate that my my husband is really pretty, pretty good about most things. He even takes his own coffee cup every time he goes to work. And and he often works out of town, so even takes that little cup with him out of town. So, but it's just those little things that add up. But I know it it can be hard when you don't have people in your household that support you.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Yeah, I feel like starting with yourself, and then if others want to join that journey, you make the invitation, and if they follow, they follow. If they don't, well, you're doing your part. And I think one of the things that's also difficult in balancing is sometimes the economics in terms of buying the thing that might be more sustainable. And I'm curious, do you have any idea of like the cost between the products that are in bring your own compared to maybe some like typical household products that you might find at Walmart, Target, other stores?

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Yeah, I mean, there are there are definitely ways to do it expensive, and there are ways to do it more affordable. Um, one thing that I push people towards if they're really trying to keep the cost down, is finding concentrated solutions for things. So we have a product called Sal Suds made by Dr. Bronner's, and it's a multi-purpose cleaning soap. It's a liquid form, and you can use it to uh you can use it for washing your dishes. You can dilute it to clean your floors, your countertops, even your car or your shower when there's soap scum in the shower. It is like a jack of all, what do you call a what do you call that? A pocket knife, basically. Like you can do all the things with it. And if you go that route, it'll save so much money because you don't need to buy a different soap for this, a different soap for that. That's how it can get really expensive. And then even with hand soap, we have concentrated liquid soaps that you can dilute and use it as a foaming hand soap that ends up being really affordable too. So we can work with people if they are really concerned about their budget, get them an estimate. We also do something to like the mindset of buying bulk, like actual bulk, um, like larger amounts. So all of the products that we get in the big 30-gallon barrels, we offer a discount to people that buy a half gallon or more. So if you're buying a half gallon of laundry detergent or so the the things we get in the big barrels are laundry detergent, hand soap, dish soap, and a shampoo and a body wash and a castile soap. I think that's everything. We have a few, you get 20% off of that price if you get a half gallon or more. So it ends up saving some money that way instead of a whole bunch of little bottles. So we encourage people to do that if they want to do that way. Um, but also on the other end of the spectrum, if you know, if you're a student and you're like, I just need a little bit of laundry soap for today or this week, and you can literally buy one scoop of laundry powder and go do your laundry right now. Like it's you can spend less than a dollar on something and just go do the thing you need to go do. It's a it's approachable, just it's really important to kind of state your needs with us because I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction if you're like trying to be really conscious of what you want to buy. Plus, like I said, you know, we do have a glass cleaner, but you don't have to buy the glass cleaner. You can dilute the sal suds and use that to clean your windows. Um, so you don't have to buy all of the things. And same with, you know, reusables. If you have your own takeaway containers from different restaurants, just use that to take your lunch. You don't need to buy a fancy stainless steel container from us. Some people do it because they want to avoid plastic altogether, even if it is reuse. So I understand that, but mason jars are also a great low-cost alternative uh to plastic. And same with uh utensils. You don't need to buy the cute little bamboo utensil set with straws. I mean, just get your silverware drawer and take a fork out of there with you to work. Um, it doesn't need to be fancy. Zero waste at its core is super like my grandma was zero waste. She would reuse Ziploc containers or Ziploc bags over and over until there was like literally nothing left. And, you know, I would find I'd go in her fridge to get like something to eat, and I'd see this like butter container that had pinto beans in it, you know, that was just like she just reused everything. And she's the OG was there a waste.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Yeah. And uh my mom to this day sometimes gives me food that she makes at home for me to bring with me, and it's in random containers. And I'm just like, yeah, we could tap into things that we already have been practicing within our families and just going off of that, and I think that a whole nother conversation around consumerism, and I think sometimes one of the rabbit holes that people will go into of wanting to be zero waste and go away from plastics, and then unfortunately going into then buying a whole bunch of things for this whole new like identity and the aesthetic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

Yeah. No, that's I think that was a big part of it for people that got started, and that's okay if you're not you're really into the uniform aesthetic and just like making everything matchy matchy because it gets you started on refilling and reusing that container, but you don't have to go that way. You totally don't. If you know, our house is a hodgepodge of some of that, you know, beautiful glass canisters and mason jars and then some reused Ziploc bag for things that are just too awkward to put. Like I have dried chilies, like those are big and chunky and take up a lot of space. I'm just using it, a reused plastic bag. Like that's it's okay. It doesn't have to be the perfect aesthetic.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

I feel like it's really just starting where you are and then piecing things together.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yeah, I think that's one of the other questions we get quite a bit is like, where do I start? And I think the the most important place to start is what you need. When you run out of dish soap, just look at your bottle and go, you know what? This bottle still works. I'm gonna take it to my local refill shop and see if they can refill this product. So just do it as a product-by-product basis. We don't want you to throw away your your things that are perfectly usable. Maybe it's, you know, not perfect in terms of ingredients, maybe it's fabuloso, you know, or whatever it is. Use it up and then bring that container and refill it with something that's better for you and the planet.

The role of community

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yeah. So, Julie, I have one question. Kind of get us towards the end. What message would you want to leave with listeners? Either that might be in your area or that might be listening in another part of the country or world.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

I think I really want for people to understand how much community plays into it. I before starting this business, I went to work every day in Torrance, a city next to Long Beach, and I wasn't at all plugged in to my community, other than a handful of friends that lived here. But I started the small business and I really started to get plugged into what was happening in politics, what was happening in my community and the different businesses and small businesses that already exist and nonprofits that exist and they're already doing the work. Just like my example with Al Goleda, I didn't even know they existed, even though they'd been here before me. Um, so find those local uh community uh nonprofits and businesses that are already doing the work and add what you can bring to the table. I mean, everybody has their own special interest. You know, mine happened to be this kind of center, but you know, there's food insecurity, there's beach cleanups, there's immigrants' rights organizations and all kinds of different ways to get plugged in, and every one of those matter.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Environmental justice organizations that kind of try to address all the different issues.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

Yeah, it's all important and it all it all works together and it goes goes back to that collective action where one person on their own isn't gonna really make that big of a difference. But when you team up with other people, it's it's everything.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

What's that one quote? If you want to go fast, do it on your own. If you want to go far, do it together or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Oh, I love that. Yeah, I haven't heard that one. I love it. And one I often quote, but I don't know the origins of it is we can't all do everything, but we all can do something. So I try to live by that.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Yeah, see, everyone drop in for some inspo. We have all the quotes.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Yes. And don't buy a t-shirt. Everybody's like, oh, I want that on a t-shirt. No, don't buy the t-shirt. Maybe get a thrifted t-shirt and write it on there with a Sharpie.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Yeah. Take a little screenshot, save it on your phone so you can see it.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Consumerism is not going to get us out of the problems that we have.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Yeah. But thank you, Julie, for joining me, sharing your insights and a little bit about your journey and what you've learned in the process because I think it's a process for all of us. And sometimes we start off going maybe really hard, and then we learn how to make things more sustainable for ourselves and the planet. I love that. Yes. Thank you so much. And Julie, would you like to share for people that might be in Southern California where they can find you?

SPEAKER_01 41:41

Yeah, we have uh two locations in Long Beach, uh, one in the East Village Arts Arts District, 431 East First Street, and the other one is in the marina, uh 148 North Marina Drive. Our website is byolongbeach.com. Instagram BYO Longbeach or Bring Your Own Long Beach. I have two different ones, and that's pretty much it. Sweet, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

If you're local to the area, definitely support your local business. And if anything, maybe this inspired you to start your own or take some action in your day-to-day as well. If you haven't already, please leave a review. Let us know what you thought of this episode, and bye everyone. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Rooted in Nature. Until next time, and remember to keep showing up for the life, relationships, and community you want. Now go.