Ep. 43: Sustainable Living in the Suburbs with Laura Newton of Kind Matter

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (speaker-0) (00:01.036)
Suburban life can sometimes feel like one long series of errands driving from plaza to plaza in our cars. Grocery store, the pharmacy, the school runs, sports, and a quick stop somewhere in between to grab something to eat. And for a long time, sustainable living has felt like something separate from all of that. Something that requires a special trip, extra planning, or knowing exactly where to go. But what happens when those options show up in the same plazas?

We’re already running our errands in. Welcome to Sustainable in the Suburbs, a podcast for the eco-curious who want to live a greener life and are looking for a place to start. I’m your host, Sarah Robertson Barnes, a soccer mom with a station wagon and a passion for sustainable living. Each week I’ll bring you practical tips and honest conversations to help you waste less, save money, and make small doable shifts that actually fit your real life. Because sustainable living doesn’t have to be perfect to matter, and you don’t have to do it all to make a difference.

Hello and welcome back to Sustainable in the Suburbs, the podcast where we start where we are, use what we have and live a little greener, one small shift at a time. My name is Sarah and I’m very excited about this conversation today. This podcast has become a part of your week. I’d be so grateful if you subscribe to the show wherever you’re listening today and leave a rating or a review. And if we’re not already connected on Instagram, you can find me there at Sarah Robertson Barnes.

And you can find the links to the newsletter, the blog, and how to get in touch with me down in the show notes. Today’s episode is about what sustainable living can look like in the suburbs, in places designed for cars, convenience, and big box shopping. It’s not that we lack ideas or inspiration about sustainable swaps or safer ingredients in our everyday cleaning and personal care products. What we lack is infrastructure. In our car-dependent communities,

With the omnipresent Amazon delivery vans built around retail plazas, habits form around what’s easy and convenient. So what changes when refill stores and non-toxic products are built into those same spaces? Not as a special trip, but as part of our everyday suburban life. That’s what we’re exploring today. My guest is Laura Newton.

speaker-0 (02:24.824)
Founder of the Kind Matter Company, a Canadian eco boutique and refillery built on the belief that sustainable living should be simple, beautiful, and accessible. Laura’s journey toward more conscious living began over two decades ago, sparked by her daughter’s severe allergies and a growing concern about what was hiding in the ingredients of everyday products. What started as a personal search for transparency and safer options evolved into Kind Matter.

a warm, welcoming retail shop designed to make low-waste living accessible and doable. In this conversation, we talk about making sustainability feel approachable, why ingredients are such a powerful entry point, what people are most surprised to learn once they start paying attention, and why physical spaces, especially in suburban communities, matter so much when it comes to building habits that last. Here’s my conversation with Laura.

Hi, Laura. Welcome to Sustainable in the Suburbs. I’m great. I’m really glad we were able to reconnect and make this conversation happen today.

Laura Newton (speaker-1) (03:26.956)
Hey, how are you?

speaker-1 (03:33.944)
I am as well, super excited to be here.

speaker-0 (03:36.46)
Yeah, so I’d love to start with you before kind matter existed. And from what I understand, your journey toward more conscious and sustainable living began in a really personal way. So can you take us back to when that became personal for you?

speaker-1 (03:51.776)
Of course, yes. So I would say that my journey with sustainable living really did start with the birth of my first daughter. So she’s almost 22 now. And when she was born, she had all sorts of really, I would say, like pretty serious physical allergies. So, you know, head to toe eczema, she was in a lot of pain. You know, as a worried mom, go to the doctor and

know, ask for suggestions on how to help my daughter. And I felt like I was given the same answer every time I went. So it was here, here’s this steroid cream, put this on your child, it’ll be fine. So there was no real digging to the root of the problem. And, you know, my gut feeling was that this was not the right way to go about it, that I needed to find out what the issue was. you know, just.

really started doing a lot of research on food allergies, what could be causing this. And that was obviously through nursing my daughter and just wondering if I could be contributing to her allergies. And then really got into what we were using in our home. So what are we using to clean? What am I using to bathe her? And once you open that door, I feel like the things you learn, you…

you just want to keep- Yeah, you can’t unknow and you just want to keep learning more. you I really got deep into the whole synthetic fragrance and, the dyes that are used in a lot of the products and just the toxic chemicals that are just so widely used and never questioned. So we really scaled back what we were using. And I saw a very big change in her, changed once she was a little bit older, changed, you know, her diet and what she was eating.

and sort of doing the same for food products. What are these ingredients? What are these words that I can’t pronounce that are in these foods? You know, and really shifted to a more whole food diet for not just her, but our entire family and really saw some significant changes. So really that’s when my journey started because like you said, once you know, you can’t unlearn these things, you can’t unsee. And so I just started going down that

speaker-1 (06:15.182)
of how can I ensure that my family is healthy? And I feel like once you kind of do that for yourself, you want to share with other people. You want to let other people know, hey, not that they’re doing something wrong, but there is a better way. And so really just teaching my friends and family became such a passion for me because I wanted everybody around me to be healthy and be their best selves. And then in turn,

that kind of shifted towards doing the same for the environment. So, I really started searching and seeking out those products that were going to help my family be healthy, that were going to be really beneficial for the environment and fast forward to…

gosh, when would it have been? 2018, I realized, wow, if I’m looking for all of these products and having quite a hard time finding them, to be honest, they weren’t really accessible in my community where I was. So ordering things online, driving an hour one way, driving an hour another way. I thought there must, right? There must be other people who are looking for the same things. hence, Matter was born out of a need really that I

was finding was necessary in my own life.

speaker-0 (07:36.862)
Yeah, that’s interesting. Our stories are very similar in the digging into ingredients. And for me, it was a lot of plastics and microplastics and all of that because I experienced infertility and repeat pregnancy loss. And so I went down a similar rabbit hole for a different, but same, same, but different reason. So it’s interesting how we’re on different paths, but we’re all going to this.

similar destination. So in those early years, can, I went through this too. just felt so overwhelming. Yes. There’s just so many things to look at. And like you said, there was just not much access. And so at this point, as you just mentioned, something shifted and started happening in your own home into something that you wanted to build into the world and share with everybody. So when did you first realize that this might need to become a business?

and not just a personal practice.

speaker-1 (08:34.679)
So…

I think when that really shifted for me was when I wasn’t just telling people what I thought they should be doing, based on the research I had done, but when people started seeking out advice from me, so friends and family and friends of friends, right? So when that started happening, I realized like, okay, this might be something that could really be beneficial for my community. And I didn’t really know how that was going to

look, but I just knew that I needed to start somewhere and to do something within my own small community. So I started literally at my kitchen table. So many small businesses say the same thing, but that is really where it started. And, you know, I thought that offering a subscription box would be really helpful for people who didn’t know where to start. They would just get this, you know, beautiful box of amazing locally made products. And

you know, they would have a chance to use them, get used to them, and make those sort of their daily habit before another selection of things showed up. So that’s really how it started. And that was that was really well received. I had a lot of people in my own community who were really excited about it. I feel like in, you 2018, people were starting to be

more interested in that or more aware of the need for better products. But there was still a lot of hesitation. I’ll also say that, you know, there was a lot of people interested, but a lot of skeptics, if you will, like, will this work? How could it be better than, you know, a Lysol white cleaning my counter? So that’s really where it started was at my table, just thinking that there must be a larger group of people that that really want to learn about these things as well.

speaker-0 (10:30.318)
Yeah, that’s, this is the story of how I started sharing education is I just thought like, you know, like, first of all, I just want to tell everybody about this. And also there’s got to be someone else who’s like me. I can’t be the only person in my suburb who’s not using Saran Wrap. There’s got to be other folks like me and there are, and as soon as you start talking about it, you will, you will attract. Yeah. It’s interesting that you mentioned skepticism.

speaker-1 (10:53.134)
those people. Exactly.

speaker-0 (10:57.6)
about like, can these products actually be good? How can you be washing your hair with a shampoo bar? How does that work? Yeah, you know, so what kind of gap are you seeing like, especially for quote unquote, everyday people who don’t necessarily identify as you know, low waste or eco focused or anything like that? What’s the disconnect there? Do you think?

speaker-1 (11:06.24)
Look at

speaker-1 (11:21.922)
I think the disconnect is just that people still assume that the products that they’ve used for so many years or that they grew up knowing about or their grandparents used or whatever that looks like, that those are really the only tried and trues. And also I feel like people still assume that because something is on a shelf at a grocery store or at a drug store that it’s good and safe and we should all.

just be okay to use it. And so, for us at the stores now, it’s really important to really just get the products into people’s hands, get them trying the things on site to realize like, wow, this hand lotion really does feel super luxurious and hydrating and whatever it is that the product that they’re testing out, it’s important just to get it into people’s hands.

so that we can remove some of that, I don’t know, skepticism around sustainable products just not being as effective.

speaker-0 (12:25.472)
It’s especially I find with cleaning products and we’ll come on to this a little bit later, but like, well, it’s, not bubbling as much as I’m used to. I’m like, bubbles don’t do anything. Education piece.

speaker-1 (12:34.734)
It’s like a marketing tool, Yeah, and that’s really the part of the stores and being in the stores and around people that I love is that education piece because when you tell them these little tidbits, you see the interest really spark. And it’s not to throw shade at other people’s products, but it’s really just to explain to people that

good, wholesome ingredients really are enough to do the job.

speaker-0 (13:10.734)
Exactly. Yes. it’s, and you need actually very few things to do. Like we don’t need 12 different cleaning products or 14 different kinds of lotions for our body.

speaker-1 (13:19.182)
No.

No, no, it’s amazing. And so the, I love the simplicity of sustainable living because it’s not that we’re going without, it’s just that we don’t need all of the options. Like it’s just redundancy, right? It’s, it’s a marketing ploy to get you to buy more, you know, that I clean my windows and mirrors and stainless steel with the same thing I clean my countertops with.

So one bottle under my sink, it’s a lot less clutter and just a much simpler way of living.

speaker-0 (13:55.766)
Yeah. And I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions about sustainable living is that it’s quote unquote more expensive, but you are buying fewer, but better things. Right. And you’re replacing them less often.

speaker-1 (14:08.884)
Exactly. Right. And while something, you know, side by side, maybe more expensive, let’s let’s say shampoo, maybe it’s more expensive than your regular drugstore brand.

but because it doesn’t have a ton of filler ingredients and you’re getting a much more quality product, you’re using less, right? So then that actual product goes much, much farther, in which case you are comparable to price of the drugstore brand or sometimes even less when you really look at it as a per use cost.

speaker-0 (14:45.846)
Yeah. So for example, the shampoo bar that I buy is from notice, which was formerly unwrapped, believe. Yeah. They’re phenomenal. But like I wash my hair twice a week. I use less now because I’m not getting the same kind of buildup or what have you, but my shampoo bar can last four to five months. So if that cost me $24.

But it lasts me for five months. Then like you said, like the cost per use is significantly lower. I’m supporting a Canadian business. So my money is, I buy it from a local small business. So everything stays circulating in a more local ecosystem and that benefits everybody.

speaker-1 (15:29.538)
does, the earth included, right? You’re not washing. Yeah, that’s the whole thing. Like it all really is so interconnected. you know, supporting your local community and using products that are keeping your family healthy, but then also, you know, being much more kind to the environment because they don’t have the harsh chemicals washing down the drain every time you use them. Like it’s, all so connected.

speaker-0 (15:32.75)
It’s a nice little side effect.

speaker-0 (15:55.202)
Yeah. So what kind of experience do you want people to have when they first walk into Kind Matter?

speaker-1 (16:03.95)
That’s a good question.

speaker-0 (16:05.822)
I walked in and was like, my God. And I’ve been to a zillion sustainable living stores and everything. But when I walked in, was just, I walked into the Mississauga store that just opened in the fall at Heartland. And, and we’ll talk about the location and all of that in a minute. But when I first walked in, I just felt very calm. It didn’t feel intimidating.

It felt very warm and approachable. And like I said, like I know what I’m doing. And I was still just like, wow. I felt like that’s, that’s my Disneyland. Yeah.

speaker-1 (16:40.938)
It’s also my Disney. Yes. And you know, that’s been really what we’ve been hoping for is that people can walk in and not feel overwhelmed. Although there is a lot of product that, you know, if you don’t know what you’re looking for can certainly feel overwhelming. But we really wanted the spaces, no matter which store you’re in, all to feel very warm and welcoming.

for the products to be digestible, not really confusing for people to look at. We want them to understand what it is that they’re seeing and really just to get a feeling of, I don’t know, that this is a place I wanna be. I feel that when I go into the stores, that when I’m there, it just feels good.

You know, we’ve had lots of customers who they walk through the door and they literally take a big exhale when they get into the stores. And so for me, that’s like, okay, success. And we’re not talking about monetarily, we’re talking about this is how I want people to feel when they come in. Because then it feels like a safe space for them. It gives them an opportunity to really have good conversations, ask the questions that maybe they’ve not known

who they could talk to about them, whether it’s, why would I use this product or maybe I have this physical thing that’s happening and I’m looking for an alternative to maybe help me. It feels like the stores are a safe space where somebody can come in and really talk about those things and learn, right? It’s an opportunity for all of us to really engage in conversations that are meaningful and help build community and build relationships.

So the stores are about more than just product. And I think that’s the really exciting thing for me is that the Kymatter shops have built such a strong foundational community. And that’s really exciting to me.

speaker-0 (18:45.774)
Yeah, it does. It feels like a warm hug. Yeah. And I was just so struck by that. even just like the journey from the front door, like, it kind of takes you through your home almost. Like these are the personal care products, these are the cleaning products, these are the teas, these are the fashion, all of it. It just sort of feels like you’re walking through a home and the way that you want to live.

speaker-1 (18:49.326)
Yeah.

speaker-0 (19:14.19)
What I also appreciate is that Kind Matter highlights a lot of Canadian and woman owned brands. So what role do these types of makers play in the identity of the store?

speaker-1 (19:24.16)
It’s always been a huge focus of the store. You know, if we’re talking about sustainability, that’s one of the foundational roles is to be able to purchase things as close to home as possible. You know, the farther away from home we get, the less sustainable something is. So it was always my goal initially to really ensure that we had as many locally made products. And to be honest, we have so

many amazing small makers so close. so it’s always just so exciting to me to be able to offer our space to house their products, to really be able to shine a light on these people who are doing amazing things and have such passion behind their products and are doing things for the right reason, right? Like a lot of the small businesses that we use or we house on our shelves,

their businesses started the same way that mine did or yours did, out of a need for something that they couldn’t find. So they truly are passionate about what they’re doing. And it started out as something more than just, well, I need to do something to make money. I just find that the relationships that we’ve been able to build with virtually all of our vendors and brands that we…

sell at the stores has really been, I don’t know, it’s so fulfilling to just be able to watch those businesses grow through our business, right? So it’s such a partnership. And I think that’s what feels really cool is that we’re building this partnership.

to be able to make all of these products accessible to those in our community. And then in turn, we have all of these community members who are feeling so supported by our stores and being able to talk to the vendors one-on-one because we have such great relationships. They come to the stores, they engage with our customers. You’re not getting that at just a regular retail location that is mass producing things, right? You’re not meeting the people behind the product and learning.

speaker-1 (21:39.182)
why their products are important.

speaker-0 (21:43.478)
Yeah, and you can feel it. You can feel that energy in the shop. can feel all of that. It’s mission oriented. It’s values. It’s the energy. It’s just wanting good. And you can feel that.

speaker-1 (21:58.952)
collective, right? that’s the really, it’s such a collective collaboration that just feels like this is how it should be done everywhere.

speaker-0 (22:01.304)
That’s the word I’m going for.

speaker-0 (22:14.752)
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s a vibe for sure. And I think that is what stands out for me is that kind matter is just feels so approachable. You don’t have to arrive already knowing everything or anything. True. It’s a place you can just start. Yeah. Yeah. So why do you think that, you know, getting into sustainable living can feel so intimidating for people?

speaker-1 (22:28.473)
No, anything. That’s

speaker-1 (22:42.594)
think there’s a few reasons. think that people have this misconception that you have to do everything and if you’re not doing everything, you’re not doing enough. And so if I’m not doing enough, then I may as well just not start and I may as well do nothing. And it couldn’t be more farther from the truth. When we talk about doing things collectively, this really is also what we’re talking about.

one little thing that everybody’s doing collectively makes a huge impact. So we always really in the stores try to project that to people. Like you don’t have to do it all. You don’t have to come in here and replace your shampoo, your conditioner, your cleaners. You don’t have to get rid of everything you have.

go home, use up what you have when you’re in need of something, now you know where you can come to replace that one thing. And by doing that one at a time, it just feels more manageable. It feels like less of an investment than if you were to throw everything out in your house and replace it all. But you’re also not wasting what you have, which of course is, that’s what we stand for. The most sustainable thing is the thing you have, like it just is.

speaker-0 (23:55.32)
So you have

speaker-1 (23:55.902)
use what you have and then once you’ve used it up, come and see us or you’re another local refillery or whatever that looks like and find out what is a better solution that’s maybe going to last longer or that’s going to have better ingredients, whatever it is that you’re looking for. But not everybody has to be on the same path at the same level. And

That just is, I think, what stops people. If I’m not doing as good as my neighbor or they have so much time to do more, but I’m a busy mom or my kids are in so many sports and we just don’t have time, whatever the reason is, everyone can do a little bit better every day and that’s enough. It just is.

speaker-0 (24:45.454)
That’s exactly what we’re doing here. Yeah, you just have to do what you can. Yeah, and it’s fine. if there’s something that isn’t working for you, just just forget it. Just do something else. It’s totally fine. Exactly. When someone walks into the store for the first time, what kinds of questions come up the most often?

speaker-1 (24:50.637)
And it’s.

speaker-1 (25:03.318)
Oof, what kind of questions? There’s a lot. There’s a lot of questions. I will say that people are, people are interested in and confused by also fragrance in products, right? So they want to know how can they have a really great smelling product without the synthetic fragrance, but then also

how can I read labels to understand what those things are? That’s a lot of the questions that we get. How am I going to go away from here and be somewhere else shopping and know what to look for? So, you know, a lot of times we’re educating on not even stuff just in our store, but just out in the world as a whole.

speaker-0 (25:45.847)
Okay.

speaker-1 (25:56.418)
fragrance is something we talk about a lot because probably I would say because it was what sort of catapulted me into this business. Really looking at that for my daughter way back. So, you know, it’s something that I’m constantly talking about to our employees because it is such a widely used ingredient slash thousands of ingredients in products, right? So how can we help our customers be able to decipher what it is that they’re?

getting from a product. So I would say that’s definitely one of the questions is, yeah, how do I go out in the world and use this information and know what I’m buying? So just talking to them about different ways that things are shown on ingredients and just what to look for.

speaker-0 (26:46.094)
Cause natural fragrance.

speaker-1 (26:48.678)
Air quotes. Right. And those are the confusing things is that the marketing on things is so confusing for people because it reads different on different labels, on different products, through different companies. And so it’s really hard for the consumer to decipher, you know, what was it that Laura said at Chi Matter? You know,

What, if it’s natural fragrance oil, is that good? Is it that perfume was bad? Like there’s so many things that they can call a synthetic fragrance that it just makes it near impossible. So we really like that our customers can come into our store and they know with 100 % certainty that, you know, these are the things you’re not going to find in our store. So you don’t have to read the labels if that’s not something you want to do.

speaker-0 (27:42.318)
It just takes all the guesswork out of it. Do you find that folks come in not quite knowing how to refill?

speaker-1 (27:51.638)
Yeah, they are almost perplexed by it. You know, I often talk about when I opened the very first location six years ago, seven years ago, that the refill station kind of was like a museum piece. You know, people would just like stand in front of it. They would look at it. They would hum and ha. They would ask questions, but it felt very foreign to them. Like, what do mean I can bring my

speaker-0 (28:17.536)
It feels illegal. Yeah. Like am I allowed to bring my own jar in? Yeah.

speaker-1 (28:20.878)
Yeah, is this a thing? Yeah, was always so interesting to watch and also like just removing the, I don’t know, misconception that it is inconvenient.

Like, why would I do that when I could just buy a new one? Like, this seems like so much extra work. But again, you get them to try it one time, just like testing out different products. And they’re like, actually, this makes so much sense. It’s one of those things that as soon as you start refilling, you’ve instantly reduced your waste. already have that very first refill. You’re like, wow, that’s one less thing that I’m putting in my garbage can or in my recycle bin. So if you were to take a stock over a month,

the amount that you’re saving just in waste is quite substantial. And then you add onto that the savings, right? Like you’re not paying for the extra package. You’re not paying for the label, the labor to get that into the bottle or the container. So you’re saving on waste instantly, but you’re also saving on money, which I mean, who doesn’t want that?

speaker-0 (29:28.398)
Yeah. In this economy? Yeah. You made an interesting point too about testing things out because you can bring the teeny tiniest jar and just get like two pumps of a lotion and try that out rather than having to buy like a big $40 bottle of lotion or whatever. don’t even know what a bottle of lotion costs anymore. I would say just refill things, but you can just try it.

And if it’s not for you, then you haven’t invested in a whole bottle of something that’s just gonna sit underneath your bathroom counter. Because I think if we open up our cupboard doors, we all have stuff hanging out under our bathroom sink.

speaker-1 (30:04.327)
happens a lot. Yeah, we like to say the refill

aspect of the business allows you to buy as little or as much as you like. And that’s really the beauty behind it. Like you said, we’ve all been there. We’ve bought the big bottles of things and opened up the cupboard and like, my gosh, when am I ever going to use all this? I don’t like it. It work for me. And so this really allows you to find that product that works for you and that you enjoy using and that you’re going to use in its entirety before you actually invest in.

a full container of it, whatever that looks like to you. Or maybe you’re somebody who likes to change up your deodorant scent more often than others, right? You come in, you get a little bit of this, and then when it’s time, you come back and you refill your little container with a different scent, whatever that looks like. It’s nice to just have those options and not be committed to such a big container of something if you wanna change it up.

speaker-0 (31:04.942)
That’s such a hilarious example because that’s exactly what my husband does with the routine. He has like a tiny little container. like, this week I’m rock star. This week I’m whatever. it just cracks me up that that was an example.

speaker-1 (31:20.086)
Yes, I know one of those. know.

speaker-0 (31:21.902)
So one of the things that I’m most obsessed with, particularly with the Mississauga shop is where it’s located, which is in a major suburban retail plaza. And so in our car dependent communities, our habits form around where we already go. So, I mean, when I pulled up, was like, there’s the huge grocery store and the big gym and the movie theater and all that kind of stuff. It’s where we’re going already. And I’d love to talk about

how that opens up sustainable living options when it’s part of our suburban landscape. So what led you to focus on locations like that for Kind Matter?

speaker-1 (32:01.484)
So initially our two first stores were really grassroots downtown core based and.

I mean, I love that. think it’s amazing. But not everybody shops in their downtown core. Like you said, a lot of people are getting in their car and they’re driving to a place that has everything available to them. And so when we saw the location in Mississauga at Heartland Town Centre, that’s exactly what we wanted and what we thought. know, this is great because

there’s all the big guys around there. There’s the really big grocery stores and like you said, a huge gym and everything you could imagine on every corner in that area. So we knew that the people were going to be there and what better place to kind of plunk ourselves and say like, hey, we’re here and look at how convenient this can be for you because you’re already here buying.

whatever it is that you’re here for. So come on over and stop in and see what we have to offer. And we have found that that’s been really successful for us because people are just like stumbling upon us, a lot of which don’t even know who we are. They don’t know what we’re about. And so they’re like, hey, what is this place? And they, know, venture in and then we get the pleasure of explaining, you know, who we are and what we’re about and introducing.

a lot of people to a completely different lifestyle that they in some cases didn’t even know existed or was available to them in their area.

speaker-0 (33:36.618)
It’s brilliant to just have it sitting there among all of our big box options because it also just normalizes it. does. Yeah. What do you see people coming in to refill the most often?

speaker-1 (33:49.518)
Cleaning supplies are definitely the gateway. They are the gateway product for refilling. I feel like it’s the easiest thing for people to wrap their heads around. And then from there, once they’re doing that and they see how easy it is and how effective the products are, then they’re more likely to kind of venture into things like routine deodorant or refilling their toothpaste. Like people are like, what? I’ve never heard of this before.

but we’ve got lots of great brands to do that as well. And then, know, face care, feel like is the last, the last step when people are feeling very confident about refilling and the quality of products. We have a beautiful, beautiful array of skincare products that people can come in and refill really everything from.

speaker-0 (34:40.942)
I have cheekbone on right now. I have my birch fave on right now. Yes.

speaker-1 (34:45.469)
Exactly. So I do see a pretty regular progression of how people refill. And I would say nine times out of 10, they start with cleaning products.

speaker-0 (34:58.894)
That’s interesting. It’s funny they use the word gateway because that really is what you need to get folks used to that refill infrastructure because it can feel like, my God, am I going to spill it? It’s fine. Spills happen. That’s why we have cloths and funnels and all that. And you can always just ask someone.

speaker-1 (35:17.422)
Yeah, and you know what, that’s also something that we do at all the stores is we’re always there to be like, hey, no, no, it’s fine. We are here to serve you. Let me fill that up because that is another thing I’ve heard from people. They go to other refilleries and they do feel really intimidated because it is expected that they do their own refills. So we wanna take any of that away that makes people feel like they’re just resistant to.

to doing those things. Like we want you to come in, we want you to feel not only welcomed, but super comfortable. And so if refilling all of your containers is what you need, we are here for that.

speaker-0 (35:56.918)
Yes, just ask. It’s a delight. And I mean, I’ve been refilling for, gosh, I think 10 years now. And if I have to use the air compressor thing, like in the big jug of laundry detergent, I ask. I’m still like, I can’t, I just can’t do it. I don’t want to spill. don’t want to. And I still, you know, I’m not using the air compressor. just ask.

speaker-1 (36:20.322)
I think that’s fair. I think that’s fair.

speaker-0 (36:22.902)
Okay, so as we start to wrap up a little bit here, I just would like to zoom out because you’ve built something that lives just right in the middle of our everyday suburban lives and clearly it’s growing. So as you look ahead, like what excites you most about where Kind Matter is heading?

speaker-1 (36:42.412)
Wow. I just have always had this vision and I never knew how I was going to get there, how it was going to happen. But, I still have the vision that every community needs something like Kind Matter, whether it’s a Kind Matter store or whether it’s another amazing, know, refillery that is open around the city or other communities.

What I’m really excited about is that so many more people are becoming aware of the importance of living more sustainably, whether it’s because of the health scare, whether it’s because they’re looking outside and just seeing this constant building and they feel the need to protect the environment that we have in front of us. I just feel like people are opening their eyes a lot more to the importance of.

just being more aware of what they’re doing in their day-to-day life, whether it’s waste output or ingredients or whatever that looks like for them. So I’m excited at the possibility that this will be mainstream and we will have a refillery and a eco store in every single community, no matter how big or how small. So.

That’s really what I’m looking forward to. We’re growing and I’m so excited and I feel so blessed to be on this journey with all of the vendors that we work with and all of the customers who have been such a fundamental piece in the growing of the business. I’m just really excited that I get to be a part of that in whatever capacity that looks like. Whether we’re at seven stores now and whether…

You know, we get to 20 stores or 100 stores for me. just really excited to be a part of all of the amazing people that really are the reason that we’re here.

speaker-0 (38:34.038)
Yeah. When you’re thinking about sustainability more broadly right now, what is giving you hope?

speaker-1 (38:42.22)
That’s a big question. That’s a big question. I feel like, you know, there’s, there’s, feels like there’s a shift happening. It feels like there’s a shift happening with just like I said previously, people’s awareness. And that gives me hope. I feel like when I started the business, it was kind of not on people’s radar that this needed to be so important. But I do really find that

even the new generation coming along, so many parents who come to our store for the first time are there because their kids have sent them. I know, I feel like that’s amazing and that’s showing me that we’re moving in the right direction. So I would have to say that that’s really what gives me hope is just that so many more people are seeing the importance of it.

that this next generation is kind of like pushing for that. And I do feel and see a shift happening where, you know, I don’t know, maybe we’re maybe we’re going to get away from needing so much convenience in our lives and getting back to a more simple, meaningful, wholesome, fulsome life.

speaker-0 (39:56.748)
Yeah, and really coming into our communities and focusing on local and all of those kinds of things. I’m starting to notice that shift as well as people are, you know, like struggling with bills and all of that is that we want to buy, like we just can’t keep consuming at this rate. And so we’re really looking for like, what’s the best thing that I can use right now that’s going to be good for my community and my family and all those kinds of things. And I’m noticing it not just in like the eco sense over the last 10 years.

But just as a whole, especially over the last, I would say even like two or three years, there’s been a really dramatic shift and even just focusing in on what you can do in your own community.

speaker-1 (40:37.454)
Agreed, agreed. Yeah. And you know, it’s interesting too, from a

speaker-0 (40:39.256)
giving me hope these days.

speaker-1 (40:44.778)
from a retail standpoint, what I’ve noticed within the last two or three years is that people are moving away from the online shopping all day, all night. I can get whatever I need and they’re looking for that connection again. So to your point, that feeling of community is becoming much more important to people. I think back to when I was growing up and community was so big, it takes a village, it really does. And we really got a

from that, I feel like with just with the convenience of things, I guess. And so I do feel a shift of people moving more towards wanting the connection when they’re buying something. They want to feel like there’s, there’s good behind it. And, you know, the more that they know about the product, where it’s made, who made it? Why is this an important product? Or why is this something that’s going to be good for me? Those, those

Tidbits of information really help people to appreciate what they have. And the connection piece, I think, is just growing for people. If they’re going to go out of their homes, they want to actually have a connection with someone, not just pressing a button on a computer and having something show up at their door.

speaker-0 (42:05.678)
Absolutely. Yeah. And feeling really welcomed when you walk into a place is huge because you feel excited to go there and you know, like, I’m going to go get my refills today. I’m going to talk to Susan. I’m going to, know, I just, yeah, it’s, it’s really special.

So before we close, always like to put my guests on the spot. And with a little segment called, yep, don’t worry. This is the lightning round. It is a test. You will be graded. I’m just kidding. So I just, I do a little segment called one small shift because, you mentioned that earlier, we’re just going to do one little thing at a time. So it’s just about a simple, realistic change that listeners can try just something small and doable. So what, what

One small shift would you suggest to someone who is a beginner or someone who feels stuck?

speaker-1 (42:54.622)
I only have one. I can only give one answer.

speaker-0 (42:57.346)
You can give as many as you want for extra points.

speaker-1 (43:02.082)
So I would say, like I mentioned before, as things are used up in your home, maybe sourcing out better options as that happens. So that just makes it more palatable, more digestible for you. But I think sourcing out in your own community,

those local businesses, sometimes they are home-based, sometimes it’s just, know, a friend of a friend makes a really great product. It’s just sourcing out those people that are already in your community that you can lean on for information or for products to bring into your home. Once you find that community, it is in every community.

You got to find it. But once you have that community, you’re going to get so much information just organically that it won’t feel as intimidating to be making shifts and changes because you’ll just be around those people who are already doing it.

speaker-0 (44:09.036)
Yeah, community.

speaker-1 (44:10.444)
Yeah, it all goes back to community. truly does. community is a very amazing, inspiring place to be a part of.

speaker-0 (44:14.475)
under me.

speaker-0 (44:21.774)
Yeah. Laura, thank you so much for taking the time to have this conversation with me today. I think you’re awesome. I just appreciate how thoughtfully you’ve brought this work to life and to building something that really lives right in the middle of our sort of everyday suburban existence. So before we go, where can folks find you and kind matter?

speaker-1 (44:49.838)
So we have, do you mean our locations or online?

speaker-0 (44:54.708)
Sure, or online or yeah, just to check you out.

speaker-1 (44:57.632)
Yeah, so online, we’re at the kind matter company.com. But we have stores in Hamilton, Waterdown, Milton, Mississauga, Oakville. You can find us at the terror greenhouses locations, we have our shops within their big, beautiful greenhouse. So there’s so many places to access us Burlington, I forgot Burlington. Yeah, there’s so many places to to find us. are becoming

speaker-0 (45:26.55)
We’ll patiently await your creation.

speaker-1 (45:29.302)
I’ll put that, I’ll make a note, I’ll put a note on that one. A star beside it.

speaker-0 (45:35.246)
Laura, again, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you so much and I can’t wait to talk to you.

speaker-1 (45:40.046)
Again, thank you so much. appreciate you as well. Thanks so much.

speaker-0 (45:44.558)
Thank you again so much to Laura Newton for being here today. What I appreciated most about that conversation is the reminder that access matters. When sustainable options are visible and affordable and woven into everyday suburban life, change feels less overwhelming and much more possible. And to everyone listening, if this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with a friend or send it to someone who’s been curious.

about making a few changes but isn’t quite sure where to begin. You can find more resources, past episodes and show notes over at sustainableinthesuburbs.com. And if you’re not already on my email list, that’s where I share practical ideas each week. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have and live a little greener. Thanks for tuning in to Sustainable in the Suburbs. Every small step adds up and I’m so glad we’re doing this together.

If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. You can find me at sustainable in the suburbs.com or at Sarah Robertson Barnes on all the things. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have, and live a little greener. This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more information about how to start your own podcast, please visit http://www.cardinalstudio.co.

or email Mike at mike at cardinalsudio.co. You can also find the details in the show notes.