by Claudia Chan | It’s good – though sad – to remember that plastic doesn’t really disappear when you throw it out. There’s a lot of it, and seeing that it doesn’t biodegrade, every piece of it ever made still exists. I was talking about this last week with Linh Truong of The Soap Dispensary when she brought up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s really quite appalling — we’re talking about a huge soup of trash, of which 90% is plastic, accumulated into a stationary mass through the rhythmic action of oceanic currents in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, devastating seabird populations and generally being a floating indictment of our wastefulness (it’s twice the size of Texas). To give you an idea of what that looks like, watch this video by artist Chris Jordan.

Anyway, it was with this in mind that Linh began to help people reduce their use of plastic in their households. Her shop at 3623 Main St. offers refills of premium eco-friendly soaps, house cleaners and personal care products to lessen the number of single-use bottles from ending up in our landfills, watersheds and recycling systems. “While recycling is good, it’s really not the first stage in terms of sustainable practices,” she says. “Bottles are sturdy. They’re made to last a long time and they never biodegrade. So why not reuse them? If you can reuse something, I strongly feel that you should.”

When she was living in Victoria between 2004 and 2009, Linh was a regular at the Soap Exchange. When they moved over here, they were surprised that no such thing existed. Last year, they decided to introduce the concept, which means they no longer have to bring all their bottles with them back to the Island for refills when visiting friends.

Linh says the neighbourhood has been really supportive so far and that customers are enthusiastic about bottle reusage, buying refillable products, sharing knowledge on ecological ways of keeping a household, and participating in DIY workshops (held at the store). Their first anniversary is on December 8th and to celebrate they’re throwing a Customer Appreciation Party. Everyone will receive 15% off of all refillable products when they bring your their owns bottles, and Linh will be revealing the number of plastic bottles that the store has diverted from landfills since it opened. So be sure to pop in and congratulate her on this tremendous effort. If you’re so inspired to learn about reducing your plastic footprint, the Soap Dispensary is as great a place as any to start. Take a look…

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Claudia Chan is an advocate of all things green. Born and raised in Vancouver, she is inspired by the work of local urban farmers, eco artists and policy makers who make this city the most lush and livable to work and play in. Her mission with Scout and her “Greenlight” column is to impart her enthusiasm for bike lanes, community gardens, farmers’ markets and more to her fellow Vancouverites.