According to a report from nonprofit EA for Impact, global plastic waste hit 225 million tons in 2025, and that number is continuing to grow. And in recent years, there’s rising interest in Milwaukee and beyond for sustainable and eco-friendly products.
Noticing a desire for more sustainable shops in the city, 29-year-old Kayla Bouma had the idea to start ECO MKE Refillery. The sustainable home, bath and body goods store is set to open a brick-and-mortar at 221 S. 2nd St. with a grand opening on April 18 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
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Bouma, who grew up in Twin Lakes, started her sustainability journey long before she started ECO MKE. Before entering college at Carroll University in Waukesha, she didn’t have much exposure to the concept.
“I really started to dive into it more,” Bouma says. “I took a couple classes that were related to sustainability, and then I ended up making it kind of my major.” Bouma has an emphasis in environmental sustainability as part of her sociology degree from Carroll University in Waukesha. She went on to get her master’s degree in nutrition in 2022 from Logan University in Chesterfield, Missouri, which tied her passion for helping others to her passion for sustainability.
Bouma looked inward to see what changes she could make in her life, whether that be swapping a bottle of soap for a bar or using reusable paper towels and containers. “I’m someone that thinks that the little actions really add up,” she says. “Some people might think that one small action isn’t going to make a difference, but when you add that up over time with other habits and actions that you put together for yourself, you are living such a different lifestyle.”
Bouma created an Instagram account called @sustainable.kay in 2018. She used the platform to talk about the life changes she was making to become more sustainable and how others could join in. She soon became a brand affiliate with Axiology, Kooshoo and others.
She would frequent Milwaukee’s The Glass Pantry and Green Life Trading Company, two stores that specialized in selling refillable and sustainable goods. When they both closed, Bouma felt that the city needed something new and decided to open her own sustainability store in 2025.
She created a website and began stocking up to sell at farmers markets. She taught herself how to run a business. “I was always on the consumer end of it, where I was visiting places like this, but I never knew what it took to actually run a store,” Bouma says. She got a shelf selling products at Indigo Plant Collective, a plant nursery and sustainability-focused shop in Walker’s Point.
Last farmers market season, Bouma sold at 30 markets throughout Wauwatosa and Milwaukee, every weekend from April to December. Patrons would ask where her store was located, and she says she felt sad telling them she didn’t have one. So, she waited for an opportunity.
That opportunity came at the end of 2025, when Indigo owner Lucy Czech informed Bouma of an open storefront nearby. Bouma looked into the property, thought it was cool and decided to pull the trigger.
When it opens, the brick-and-mortar store will sell home and body care items sourced with sustainability in mind, such as bar soaps, shampoo and conditioner bars, dryer balls, toothpaste tablets and more.
Low-waste refills are a focal point for ECO MKE. The store will sell refills of dish soap, body wash, dishwasher tables and laundry detergent for customers who bring in reusable containers. Bouma’s looking to expand its beauty products as time goes on by adding liquid shampoo and conditioner, as well as other hair products.
And unlike some refill stores that leave patrons in charge of refilling their items, ECO MKE will do it for you. Shoppers can bring their own bottles and containers or buy reusable ones in store.
“This allows you to look at other things in the store if you want to,” Bouma says. “Some people, when they go to a refill store, will bring five or six bottles, and they sit there and refill all of them. It takes quite a bit of time. But if you hand your bottles off to a store associate, and they refill all that stuff for you, it takes it off your hands.”
She adds that she’s picky when it comes to the store’s products and the ingredients in them. “We look to avoid potential endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, parabens and SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate),” says Bouma. “We avoid additives derived from petroleum, which you’ll often find in conventional home and body care. We also take fragrance seriously, and any products that contain synthetic fragrances are from brands that are transparent about what they put under that umbrella term.”
ECO MKE Refillery sources its products from across the United States and Canada and tries to source locally when it can. “We would love to eventually be 100% local, or Milwaukee-made stuff,” Bouma says. “Currently, we don’t make anything ourselves, though I would love to eventually go down that road.”
Bouma still works full time in HR and balances both. She thinks that part of the beauty of ECO MKE is being able to teach people about sustainability and help them begin their journeys.
“Everyone is welcome to start doing this, whether it’s just one simple swap you want to try out or if you’re trying to overhaul your entire cleaning closet,” she says. “We accept everyone that is trying to live this way; it is not a one-size-fits-all thing. We just want to be a positive driver to help our communities start to live more mindfully.”
ECO MKE Refillery can be found on Instagram and online at ecomke.com. The store is open Thurs-Sun, and visitors can find hours as they’re updated on social media.
