In an effort to bridge the gap between sustainability and accessibility, ELI students, Emma Trakh and Bella Rosemarie Crosland Bell, designed a free basic needs hygiene refill station to serve students and the surrounding Goleta community.
Witnesses to daily waste and concerned by the high cost of eco-friendly, safe basic needs products for college students, Emma and Bella made a collective decision to implement change to benefit the UCSB community. Taking inspiration from the Mission Refill in Goleta, which offers customers the opportunity to refill containers with soaps, lotions, detergent, and more, Emma and Bella decided to create their own refill station but this time, at no cost to the “customers,” in this case, UCSB students. The refill station opened in April 2025 at the Associated Students (A.S.) Food Bank as well as at pop-ups such as the Isla Vista Earth Day Festival. It provides an array of hygiene products including dish soap, body wash, shampoo and conditioner, and detergent sheets.
While providing these essential products, Emma and Bella are also teaching students to be conscious consumers by requesting students reuse their own or provided glass containers. Emma and Bella are providing a free medium-sized glass container to first-time visitors. Repeat participants are asked to utilize that container for future use in a BYOC (bring your own container) system. Emma and Bella intend to reach people who are eco-curious and/or predisposed to an ecologically responsible mindset as well as anyone who will benefit from the free refillable products, in order to not only teach but also reinforce eco-friendly habits.
With the support of grant funding from Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) and The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) as well as GoFundMe donations, including while tabling at a Community Environmental Council (CEC) event held by their environmental mentor, they were able to secure $4,684 to launch this initiative. A search for volunteers to help maintain the operations behind their hygiene refill stations plays an important role in its longevity. With enhanced student and community involvement, they imagine their stations either transitioning to being student-run or operated by the A.S. Food Bank. There are a number of ways to get involved in this project to reduce barriers to essential product distribution in the Santa Barbara area, including visiting the stations, volunteering to help, or simply spreading the word.
Emma and Bella’s refill station can be found at the A.S. Food Bank on Mondays from 10 am to 1 pm and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 12 pm. To further extend their reach of accessibility, they also table on Sundays at Little Acorn Park in Isla Vista from 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm. They currently serve ten to twenty people per pop up, with a grand total of 150 served so far. The refill station will also be accessible during a “Yoga, Journaling, and Bagels” collaboration event, alongside their ELI peers Taylor Platz and Quincy Wedbush, at 10 am on May 17th at Sea Lookout Park. All are invited to bring reusable containers for free shampoo, conditioner, and laundry product refills alongside fun activities like meditation and raffles. Follow them in Instagram @ucsbsustainable_refillables_ for more news and events!
