Fillagreen opened in April 2023, Prince William County Virginia’s first refillery. Refilleries are where customers can reuse personal care product and essential home containers to avoid unnecessary waste.
At the time of the cozy community build day, Fillagreen was a two months old old store, walls blank, ready for art. We invited participants into the educational space adjacent to the store to learn finger crochet with large yarn cut from recovered textiles. The idea being to create a well integrated piece inspired by the shop from the all the parts made. The mission was successful and you can now go see this cozy wall hanging when you visit.
The Cozy Experience has been part of Fillagreen’s loyal and growing following Since their inception. Also operating in Northern Virginia, with similar waste diversion values, the creative director of the Cozy Experience knew she wanted to connect and strengthen their aligned communities.
While The Cozy Experience offers creative solutions to post consumer textile waste, Fillagreen offers collection solutions for hard-to-recycle items including: disposable razors, shaving blades, cartridges, toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers, squeeze food pouches, and grocery bags. At Fillagreen, nothing ends up in the trash or recycling because they are committed to sourcing products exclusively from companies that operate on a closed loop system, meaning they ship empty bulk containers back to the suppliers to be reused.
Of over 40 million tons of plastic waste generated in the United States in 2021, only 5% to 6% of it was actually recycled, 80% of the plastic ended up in landfills. The paltry plastic recycling rate should be a wake-up call to the false promise of plastic recycling being a credible solution to plastic waste and pollution.
vs. 34 billion pounds of used textiles and 2.6 million tons of returned new clothing ending up in US landfills in 2020 alone. Additionally 10% of microplastics dispensed into the ocean each year come from consumer washing and drying practices.
Success for both Fillagreen and The Cozy Experience looks like: creating an engaged community of people that want to leave a smaller impact on earth.
