To anyone who cleans their house, uses soap, or personal care products, (so everyone) we’d like to introduce you to Michaela and KnoxFill, which was created from her devotion to lowering waste.
In Michaela’s words “KnoxFill is a zero waste refill shop. It works like the milkman but for personal care and household products - we fill up reusable, refillable containers with the products customers purchase.”
How it works
Customers can order their desired products online, and then they get delivered to their door— like the milkman. Once the containers are empty Knoxvillers can swap them out for full ones, creating a circular pattern of reusing containers and reducing the amount of one-time use plastic.
Consequently, there’s less junk cluttering up our homes and lives. I love the simplistic mission of KnoxFill “All the products you need. None of the packaging you don't.” because it’s so closely aligned to what we do at Help You Dwell —seeking to live a more peaceful and joyful life in the home by minimizing unneeded noise and clutter we can without losing what we need.
The Journey Begins
While Michaela is currently pursing her PhD at University of Virginia, she works alongside her two team members, Amber and Austin, to fill orders and continue to share their story with Knoxville. Michaela’s research is entirely devoted to studying people’s relationship with waste and the problematic ways in which we produce, consume and dispose of products.. She says “ I wanted to stop just investigating the problem and work towards a local solution. KnoxFill was born out of that desire, and because I wanted a zero waste shop locally that I could patronize!”
“I've been on a low waste, sustainable living journey for many years, and I know how hard it can be to find sustainable and local products that really work as well as "traditional" alternatives.
I put traditional in quotes because with KnoxFill, we're actually returning to old ways of doing things that are better for people and planet”
Rest assured, you don’t have to lead a perfect zero-waste life to shop at Knoxfill. Their goal is encourage those who are seeking to live a more sustainable life by providing them with a locally-based option. Each of us doing our part can have a huge impact on both our local and global communities.
“I ran the numbers recently, and I realized that if just 20% of Knoxvillians reduced their waste by 20%, we could prevent almost 14 MILLION pounds from being produced on a yearly basis. That is the power of our collective.”
Local Solutions
While they provide a whole slew of amazing products on their website, ranging from dental floss to laundry detergent, some of their favorites are their Starter Kits. These bundles are put together keeping folks who are new low/zero waste living in mind. The Laundry and Shave Starter Kits are some of most popular with customers, and make great gifts!
Michaela says that KnoxFill has brought more joy, hope and optimism to her life as she continues to work with and discover local providers and partners. She refers to Knoxville as the true “Maker City” and asks “How lucky are we to live here?!”
We at Help You Dwell couldn’t agree more. Especially when there are so many businesses like KnoxFiil working every day to make Knoxville that much more of an amazing place to live. More information about KnoxFill can be found on their Instagram and Facebook.
