WATCH: Trailblazing Mullingar store 'changing habits and ideas' one refill at a time

The owner of Westmeath's first minimal waste store talks about how people's shopping habits are changing

It's been an eventful few years for Eibhlin Fitzpatrick since she opened The Refill Mill, Mullingar and the midlands' first minimal waste eco store.

The Tyrrellspass native was due to start trading in March 2020, but her plans and those of the rest of the world had to be shelved for a few months due to the first lockdown. She pivoted online before eventually opening the shop's doors that July.

The idea of opening The Refill Mill first came to Eibhlin while she was travelling and saw how zero or minimal waste stores were becoming increasingly popular in places like the UK and Australia. When she returned home she decided to turn her idea into reality.

“My main motivation was that I was sick of plastic and not having an option here. When I was abroad, I saw shops like this and they were mainstream and normal. I came back and it was a bit frustrating. In Dublin you can shop like this but not really in the midlands.

“I just felt like if I wanted it then other people would want it as well. It is just kind of changing people's habits and ideas."

The basic idea behind the store is very simple, its owner explains.

“We encourage people to bring their own containers, but if they don't have any with them we have paper bags here.

"If you bring your own containers we weigh them first and then fill them up with as much or as little as you like and then they are weighed again. It's all done by the weight so you are paying for the product not the packaging.

“Coming into a shop like this can be a bit daunting but we make it as easy as possible for people. We are always ready to give a hand. A lot of people actually drop their containers for us to fill. They go around town and come back and it's all ready for them to go.”

The Refill Mill stocks a range of mainly organic pantry and dry food items, eco friendly cleaning, laundry and cosmetics goods, including a range of locally sourced products such as Killucan Honey, free range eggs from Greene's, Sophie's Soaps from Mullingar and organic sourdough bread from Rathwire's BreaDelicious.

“My whole thing is I want to get as close to home as I possibly can. A big thing is supporting Irish, but particularly small local businesses as much as I can. As long as they have the same ethos,” Eibhlin says.

Over the past two years, The Refill Mill has built up a loyal group of customers. “Reared in retail” - her parents Tom and Eileen ran a shop in Tyrrellspass for years - Eibhlin says that she is happy that she is giving people “ the opportunity to shop the way that they want to”.

“We are trying to encourage conscious consumerism...When I opened the response was really great, even today people come in for the first time and talk about how sick of plastic they are because you are paying for the packaging and you are paying to get rid of the packaging as well. That's a big thing people are absolutely sick of, their bins being full even if it is recycling.”

Mullingar novelist Anne Griffin has been shopping in The Refill Mill since the shop opened. She credits the store with helping her make the transition to becoming a more sustainable shopper.

“Eibhlin has helped me change my way of life from just practising one of the three Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle). We are all very good at the recycling, but Eibhlin has helped me really have an impact with reducing and reusing, “ Anne told the Westmeath Examiner.

“She has turned my one small change when I first came in with one washing up liquid bottle two years ago into 20 or 30 changes in my life. That makes me feel extremely good about what I am doing for the environment and what I am doing for my own family,” she said.

Looking ahead, Eibhlin believes that shops such as The Refill Mill will become a feature in most Irish towns.

“They are popping up all over Ireland now, so we are hoping that in the future that this will be the norm and that it will be second nature to people.”