LARISSA RUSSO (32)
Founder and Owner, The Refillery 

At The Refillery in Squirrel Hill, one person’s trash is another’s treasure. That treasure comes in the form of empty containers that folks bring, borrow or can buy to reuse and refill with personal items and home essentials — shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, laundry soap, etc.

The mission, according to founder Larissa Russo, is to reduce Pittsburgh’s eco-impact and reduce single-use packaging by making reusing easy, accessible and affordable. The shop recently celebrated its first anniversary.

The idea came to her during the pandemic, when she was watching a lot of TikTok videos about the climate crisis and other “refilleries” around the country. She quickly realized that Pittsburgh didn’t have anything like that.

“It was when I could no longer answer the question, “Why not me?” that I took the leap and resigned from my engineering position to pursue The Refillery full time,” Russo says. “I wanted to create a space that enabled people to come together to make meaningful change.”