After decades of living very sustainably at home, growing her own food, composting, collecting rain water, making all her own soaps and cosmetics from natural ingredients, participating in beach clean ups and other volunteer activities on her days off only to return to a corporate workplace that produced massive amounts of trash, Leanne Gallagher Allen decided she wanted to be more than just a “drop in the bucket” when it came to positively impacting the future of our environment. She realized that the best way to have a greater impact was to make it as easy and affordable as possible for other people in her community to live more sustainably too.
Dissatisfied with the overabundance of plastic packaging and the lack of product selection, Leanne searched for a way to provide simple and effective cleaning solutions without the worry of petrochemicals and single use plastic packaging. By providing a service that allows you to bring in your own clean, reusable containers and fill it with one of our many environmentally friendly bulk options, you save time and money with the added bonus of not contributing to the local landfills and recycling depots. When ever possible, products are Canadian made, always free of synthetic foaming agents, perfumes and parabens. We also offer an ever growing selection of reusable plastic free personal care items and homewares.
West Coast Refill opened in a tiny space in Victoria BC in the heart of historic China Town’s Dragon Alley in July of 2017. In April of 2018 we expanded to a location five times the size, at 1319 Broad Street where we are currently working on expanding our product variety and using the space to host workshops and events focused on reduced waste living and sustainability.