To reduce her own plastic consumption, Jackie Barnes found her own solutions -- then started a business to offer eco-friendly products to all.

Jackie Barnes is the first to admit she does not see herself as a shrewd businesswoman who lives in a world of deals, numbers and bottom lines. For most of the 26-year-old’s life, owning a business was never in the plans.

Yet she now finds herself running her own business, not so much because it is her dream as it is a personal mandate. In February, Barnes cut the ribbon on The Green Directive, a shop aimed at supporting conscious consumerism by providing low-waste everyday items. The store also offers a refill station – a rarity in Monterey County – that takes products such as shampoos, conditioners and dish soap out of their traditional single-use plastic containers and offers them in bulk, allowing customers to bring in refillable bottles and buy goods by weight.

Since opening, The Green Directive has operated on wonky hours, shutting its doors Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This is because Barnes opened her shop while also working full time at Montage’s Ohana Center for Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health. She opened the store, exclusively financed by her personal savings, despite thinking it would not bring in enough money for her to quit her full-time healthcare job.

“I am not in this for the money, I am very much in this because I want people to feel supported and feel encouraged to reduce their waste,” Barnes says. “That’s hard to do today. Corporations that are selling us stuff don’t care about the environment. People need to feel the support and have the conversations in order to get started. For me, that meant starting this store.”

Although the business has been paying for itself, Barnes saw The Green Directive couldn’t survive receiving only half of her attention. On April 22, she left her full-time job at Montage to put everything into The Green Directive, where she is the only employee. Sometimes changing the world takes more will than skill.

In 2018, as Barnes was finishing up a kinesiology degree at CSU Monterey Bay, she saw the 2016 documentary Plastic Ocean, which highlights and places the problem of plastic pollution in context. Barnes says the documentary “really hit me hard,” and she was compelled to examine her own habits and immediately begin cutting back on plastic where she could.

However, as the Fremont native looked around, she felt surprisingly alone in her pursuit to abolish plastic.

“I felt like I didn’t have the support or resources in the area to go through with zero-waste or even significantly reducing my waste,” Barnes says. “I was overwhelmed, and trying to ship products from across the country because of their commitment to zero-waste.”

Barnes realized that the process of transporting the zero-waste products she was ordering essentially canceled out the positive impact she was trying to make on the environment. In 2020, she began ordering in bulk from more local, small business vendors she found to be riding the same low – to zero-waste wave. She set up tents at farmers’ markets under The Green Directive moniker, and began developing buzz.

Barnes still leans on her education in healthcare, where she learned about the psychology behind health behavior changes. As with changing health behaviors, Barnes says there is a key social aspect to changing waste-generating behaviors. It starts with encouragement, and having others support you and hold you accountable.

But where does one begin their low-waste journey? The kitchen, in today’s world, is a more difficult arena for zero waste since most food packaging is single-use, non-recyclable plastic. Barnes says it’s easiest to start in the bathroom – buy a bamboo toothbrush and a sustainable razor, and swap out single-use shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste packaging with refillable containers. Once momentum is built in the bathroom, turn toward the fridge and see what changes are feasible.

THE GREEN DIRECTIVE is at 77 Soledad Drive, Monterey. Open 11am-6pm Friday, 9am-6pm Saturday, 9am-4pm Sunday, 11am-5pm Monday. thegreendirective.com