As Plastic Waste Surges, Local Woman Helps Cape Reduce Dependence

Jessica Georges, founder of Green Road Refill, in front of “Sally Sud Shed” on June 26, 2020. (Eve Zuckoff/CAI)

On a hot summer Friday, a Toyota RAV4 rolls into the parking lot of Cape Cod Beer in Hyannis. It’s there for an outdoor festival with live music, cornhole, and, of course, beer.

Trailing just behind the car is a bright green shed. The driver parks it right in front of the beer garden.

“I am setting up Sally Sud Shed. She is one of the ladies of Green Road Refill. The other one is me, Jess Georges,” the driver said.

For the last three years, Georges, Sally, and Sally’s predecessor, a converted school bus named Betty, have travelled to farmers markets and fairs all across the Cape and Nantucket. As the founder and sole employee of Green Road Refill, Georges is selling eco-friendly and plastic-free products: everything from bamboo toothbrushes to biodegradable deodorants. But the heart of her business is refills.

“So the whole idea is, ‘Why do we need to buy a bottle with our product every time? How do we solve that?’ And I was like, ‘Well, why can’t we just refill?’” she said. “And this was about three years ago.”

From her mobile shed, Georges and her refills have helped reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans and in our waste streams. It’s a small victory in a much larger battle. This is especially true because the problem with single-use plastics has recently gotten even bigger.

Read the rest of this story at CAI’s website.