Feb. 24, 2023

Morgan Hughes and Caitlin Reimers don’t expect you to toss out half-empty shampoo bottles or liquid dish soap.

But when it comes time to replace those bottles, they hope you’ll consider making a shift in your habits.

Hughes and Reimers, who both graduated from the University of South Dakota with degrees in sustainability, have founded a company that offers the opportunity to minimize waste and maximize responsible usage of products.

The Mindfill offers sustainable low-waste goods like laundry strips instead of liquids, powders or pods. It sells products like shampoo bars and toothpaste tablets with minimal packaging.

All the products they offer are ethically researched and sourced from local vendors in the South Dakota area or from larger companies that want to make the biggest impact with the least amount of waste.

Hughes and Reimers know that making changes in the way you do laundry or do dishes or bathe can be intimidating. That’s why they recommend taking it one step at a time.

“Sustainable change can be such an overwhelming topic because there’s so many things to change,” Hughes said. “We suggest little things at a time, things that will be easy for you and fit well into your lifestyle — switching out your laundry detergent or the shampoo you’re using. Not changes that happen all at once.”

Added Reimers: “Finish that half-full bottle of shampoo, then next time purchase the next bottle consciously. It’s not a minimalism movement. If you want that in your life, pick something that was sourced ethically and responsibly. If there’s plastic involved, be thinking about where those products are going to go when you’re done with it.”

Those changes also can be fun and festive. That’s why The Mindfill offers greeting cards with wildflower seeds imbedded in the paper. After the greeting has been enjoyed, the actual card can be planted, and flowers will come up.

Hughes, a native of upstate New York, now lives in Beresford. Pierre native Reimers resides in Sioux Falls. They graduated from USD a year apart, Reimers in 2021 and Hughes in 2022. Despite being part of a relatively small sustainability major at USD, they didn’t know each other.

A mutual friend, Anna Moore, introduced them. Moore, the graduate student for sustainability at USD, knew the women had graduated with similar goals of starting a retail business that would offer sustainable products.

“We both had plans developed at that point,” Hughes said. “When we met, we had what the other person was missing in terms of a full plan. It kick-started our progress.”

That was last April. In the intervening months, plans for The Mindfill came together, and they started offering products online in January. The women serve their customers in the Sioux Falls and Beresford areas with personal delivery and pop-up shops and also offer mail delivery. Thursdays are the days for door delivery.

Reimers defines sustainability as consumers being conscious of their decisions and their lifestyle to make sure future generations will have what they need.

“It’s making sure you’re not just taking it all for your generation, leaving nothing for others,” she said.

Making good choices with resources today means future generations will continue to live the current standard of life, Hughes said.

Hughes currently is pursing a master’s degree in public health. It was on her family’s dairy farm where she became interested in adopting sustainable practices not only in agriculture but also daily life. Reimers served as a zero-waste intern at USD and studies communities and their relationships and behaviors with waste and environmentalism.

Being sustainable doesn’t mean replacing everything plastic in your house. If you have a plastic ice cube tray, use it until it breaks, then replace it with a metal tray, Hughes said.

The Mindfill offers products that are considered daily necessities such as toothpaste, body soap, shampoo, conditioner and razors. Every product has little or no packing, and if there is, it can be composted or recycled, Reimers said.

Two of The Mindfill’s most popular products so far are the laundry strips and shampoo bars. Also popular is liquid shampoo in reusable jars.

Orders can be placed on The Mindfill’s webpage, but the women also schedule pop-up shops. The Mindfill team will bring products to Benson’s Flea Market in Sioux Falls on March 4 and 5. A pop-up shop will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 9 at Muenster University Center on the USD campus. Future events will be listed on a calendar on the website.

The Mindfill also will keep looking for sustainable products that meet its criteria.

“We put a lot of time and effort to make sure we are supporting small businesses, make sure what we are selling is socially and ethically sourced,” Hughes said. Added Reimers, “We do that so our customers don’t have to put in all that work.”