Meet NUMA'LO-  a zero waste refillery van based in Guåhan. Numa’lo provides a new and exciting earth-friendly shopping experience, where you “weigh and pay” for products without the wasteful packaging. We refill your containers with locally-made and eco-friendly soaps, cleaners, detergents, and so much more! We also sell “zero waste” accessories to replace the single-use plastics in your everyday life. Our mobile business will operate “pop up” style at various locations around the island every week. We make it even more convenient for you with our home delivery service, where we refill your containers right from our van to your doorstep. 

Zero Waste = Environmental Advocacy:

(picture taken by Cami Egurrola for Micronesia Climate Change Alliance)

Our goal is to provide you with the ease and accessibility of adapting “zero waste” habits. Zero waste is not a trend. It’s a lifestyle change that is being adopted across the globe as more and more people make the connection between waste pollution and our environment.

(If you aren’t familiar with the devastating effects plastic has on our lands and waters, please educate yourself by watching the From Our Nånas, For Our Nenis video series). 

We aim to be a “zero waste” business, which simply means we try our best to produce as little waste as possible by making small changes to our everyday routines and habits. Our hope and vision is to inspire you to embark on your zero waste journey! It is only through our individual actions that we can build collective resiliency and ripple communal change. Guåhan is not a big island, but our community has a big heart- for our lands, our waters, our culture, and more important- our people. Zero waste is in favor of our island, and joining us on this mission is one step towards securing a safe and healthy island for our next generations to come.

Mission & Vision:

Our vision is rooted in the CHamoru concept of INAFA'MAOLEK, meaning to restore harmony with respect & responsibility for i taotao-ta, i tåno'-ta, i hanom-ta, yan i tåsi-ta (our people, land, water, and ocean). NUMA'LO is also the CHamoru word for revive, do again, or return. We believe that being stewards of our island is an ancestral practice that we must revive within the community through environmental advocacy and activism. We envision a Guåhan that is protected, secure, and safe from the threat of climate crisis.

Our mission is three-pronged: educate the island about the plastic pandemic, inspire the community to be conscious consumers, and uplift local businesses as our primary vendors. 

It is also crucial to mention this business is being initiated by Micronesia Climate Change Alliance (MCCA), a grassroots non-profit seeking to create community-centered solutions to the climate crisis. This business would not be possible if not for their abundant support and guidance.

Rewards:

With every donation above $15, you'll receive an award! We've partnered with Maisa, a local social entrepreneurship aimed at promoting waste consciousness and mindful consumption- and we have some of their beautiful zero waste starter products to gift our donors. We also recently partnered with Eco-Friendly Options, a business that provides affordable eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastics and styrofoam. Check out the "Perks" section of our page!

We're excited to share our first in-house product: the Numa'lo grocery tote! Made out of Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS) certified cotton with pockets customized to hold bottles, bulky containers, and all the refill containers galore! 

***IMPORTANT INFORMATION*** After your donation, you will receive an email within 24 hours detailing how your rewards will be received. Guåhan residents must pick up rewards at MCCA's office in Tamuning. All non-Guåhan donors will have rewards shipped to the address provided. All details will be provided in the email.

How Your Donations Help:

We're asking the community to help us forge this amazing opportunity for our island with a fundraising goal of $10,000. With these funds, we plan to purchase and outfit a van, build startup inventory, and pay our small two-person team. 

• We're immensely grateful that MCCA has agreed to lease us a van! Funds from this campaign would mainly go towards the van build, which includes flooring, walls, shelving, and storage (including cost for material, tools, and installation).
• We also need to purchase special containers and accessories to hold and handle our refillable products, including barrels, scoops, funnels, cleaners. etc.
• As mentioned, we aim to source local businesses as our main vendors, so paying them fairly for their creative efforts and products is vital.
• Lastly, our small team offers a tenacious willingness to build this amazing opportunity for our community, so starting salaries are in mind too.

Other Ways to Help:

We understand that not all may be able to make a financial contribution, but that doesn't mean you can't help:

•  Share our campaign to spread awareness about our mission and service!
• Follow and share our Instagram @numalorefillery
• Connect with us if you have any suggestions/recommendations about products we should stock or local companies we should source!
• Embark on your plastic-free journey today! It doesn’t take buying new things or reusable items to begin this lifestyle. It starts with a firm decision to refuse and reduce plastic and reuse and repurpose what you already have. 

Conclusion:

(picture taken by Cami Egurrola)

The peril of plastic is often underestimated because we do not understand how we directly contribute to this system. We purchase, we toss, then we purchase again. We don’t see where our trash goes after it is cast into the garbage or how this waste is processed- but here on our island, there is something we do see: We see our beaches littered with trash. We see our jungles cluttered with waste.

Numa'lo is just one solution we can provide to the plastic pandemic on our island. Our mission invites people to become protectors of our island by treating the materials we use and create as valuable gifts to be honored and repurposed— not like trash. We believe that change is possible for Guåhan when we work together and act earnestly in favor of our community and our island as one.