Conscious Living Shop offers zero-waste goods and statewide support

July 18, 2024

Photo provided by Inga Pettner

Conscious Living Shop, a small business in Colorado Springs, hopes to help its customers reduce waste by selling locally sourced and sustainable household products.

According to Inga Pettner, who owns Conscious Living Shop, the store primarily offers eco-friendly goods and bulk refills on household products, including lotion, sunscreen, face wash, all-purpose cleaner, dish soap, laundry detergent and hand soap. Customers can purchase reusable containers for bulk products or use some of the free ones the shop has available.

Pettner said she makes Conscious Living Shop’s face wash, lotion, body butter, dry shampoo and face masks herself. She also sells products from small businesses statewide, like Aspire Colorado and Juniperseed Mercantile.

Additionally, Pettner said Conscious Living Shop uses TerraCycle, a zero-waste recycling service, and encourages the community to bring in their recyclables if they fit into the categories listed on the shop’s website.

Pettner provided a few examples of what customers can recycle through the shop.

“People are able to bring in bottle caps, beauty product containers, like lip balm containers or old small travel lotions and stuff like that. I also do the trigger sprayers like you would use for a window spray. There's toothpaste, so you can bring in the old toothbrushes, floss and then toothpaste containers. And then, there's also the old food hugger bags, so the reusable silicone bags instead of using the plastic bags,” she said.

Conscious Living Shop has not always been a brick-and-mortar business that offers multiple services. Pettner said it started as a booth the shop’s previous owner Lilla McPhearson would set up at Pikes Peak Market, which Pettner described as a “little co-op shop.”

“She had just a little booth that she had started there and then got enough followers that she decided to start an actual brick-and-mortar space of her own,” Pettner said.

According to Conscious Living’s Instagram page, Pettner became the shop’s owner in December 2023. She said her new role fits a vision she had for a long time.

“I've always talked about having my own little shop and so … In my vision, I always had an apothecary, was my plan, but I loved working with Lilla, and I loved the idea of helping the environment and stuff like that,” she said.

“Even if you're doing a little bit, it's still something. We all can't do recycling and everything all the time. But if you can do a little bit, it'll still help,” she said.

Conscious Living Shop is located at 2616 W. Colorado Ave, Suite 9. More information on the shop’s products, hours of operation and recycling service can be found on its website.