Bring a Bottle Day at the SLO Food Co-op [RECAP]

By: Benjamin Arts

Benjamin Arts at the SLO Food Coop Bring a Bottle Day (Kevin Polanco)

On January 18th, 2025, Mr. Turtle hosted our first-ever Bring a Bottle Day at the SLO Food Co-op, and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out! We spent the day talking with customers, demoing the Trifecta refill machine, and introducing more people to the availability and sustainability of refilling.

Making Refilling Easy and Accessible

With hand soap, dish soap, and laundry detergent available at our Trifecta machine at the coop, customers got to see, learn, and refill all in one place. We got some amazing customer feedback and got to see firsthand how people are using our machines. Here are the main takeaways:

• Some people had seen the machine before but weren’t sure how to use it
• Confusion about what button is correlated to which button
• People are ripping the receipt sticker out with too much force
• Not sure about the price for a “regular” sized bottle
• Learning if bottles are for purchase?

In most of these instances, it turns out, all they needed was a little guidance! The demo was the perfect way to tackle this! For other times, it seems best to implement some small marketing and display changes to the machine. Thank you to everyone who provided us with feedback!

Mr. Turtle Bring a Bottle Day Flyer (Benjamin Arts)

For the Bring a Bottle Day, our team consisted of Benjamin Arts and senior project interns Dominic Iskander and Nick Soudah. They walked customers through the process of using the machine, answered questions, and reassured them that refilling is simple, intuitive, and sometimes fun :)). For anyone who couldn’t make it, we have step-by-step videos available, and we’re always happy to help!

Here is a video of Colin Brown showing you how to use the Trifecta machine: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UNI9mpl5ulU

I believe that Bring a Bottle Day was a success, but don’t just believe me, it’s in the numbers too! Over the two hours that we were there, we talked with about 30 SLO Food Coop shoppers, gave away our 12 refillable glass bottles to people who forgot their own, and helped about 20 people refill. In total, we sold about 400 fluid ounces of cleaning product or 3 gallons, all the while saving on plastic!

And to the people who asked for a bottle when we ran out, our apologies! Turns out, people love free bottles and we didn’t bring enough! Next time, we’ll make sure to stock up so no one leaves empty-handed. And for those asking where they can get more Mr. Turtle gear, we’re working together with the Cal Poly Iter8 club on a new online shop/website featuring bottles, stickers, shirts, and other swag.

This event showed us how important it is to make refilling as easy and welcoming as possible. We’re excited to host more events, improve the experience, and expand our impact. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, refilled, and supported our mission to reduce single-use plastic. We’re just getting started!

See you at the next Bring a Bottle Day,

Benjamin Arts