What happens to the sleek, shelfie-worthy packaging that houses your favourite formulations? The answer lies in what they’re made of. However while you might currently be under the impression that anything housed in specific materials, like glass, get recycled and live on in another form, you’d be mistaken. Many of the products we attempt to recycle end up in landfill, taking up to a thousand years to decompose.
A report by Zero Waste Week in 2018 found that the beauty industry produces a staggering 142 billion pieces of packaging each year – and the jury’s out as to how much of that actually gets recycled. But what if we were re-using that packaging and getting our original pots and tubes refilled with the formulas that we repeat buy? The consumer appetite is certainly there, with influencer marketing platform, Traackr, recording that social media posts mentioning the word “recyclable”were up 202 per cent engagement-wise in 2019 and 82 per cent of consumers are actively trying to reduce the amount of waste they throw away.
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“Luxury beauty packaging has long been dictated by rules of aesthetics and practicality,” says Daniela Walker, a beauty researcher at strategic foresight consultancy at The Future Laboratory. “A product needed to be functionally packaged, but also had to feel luxurious in weight, texture and tone. As a result, the sustainability of the packaging was often an afterthought.” Not anymore. So what’s the answer to this rather overwhelming problem? Could refills really be it?
Loop is widely regarded as a glimpse into the future by many in the beauty industry; a scheme by Terracycle (one of the world’s most innovative recycling companies), it offers a refill service for their partnered brands’s products. They make it easy: you choose your products, they arrive in refillable containers and then your empties are picked up and dropped back when they’ve been thoroughly cleaned and are ready to reuse. Slated to launch in the UK in 2020, so far Loop is working with names like Ren Skincare, The Body Shop, Dove and Pantene – and you can bet there will be more chomping at the bit to sign up in future.
Meanwhile, skincare brands are trialling different ways to make the sustainability game work for them, with Olay being one of the most prominent in the mass space after they announced a three month trial on its Regenerist Whiprange in the US at the end of last year: “The ultimate goal is to find and adopt many more sustainable packaging solutions, and the refillable package os the first step of that journey,” said Anitra Marsh, associate director of brand communications at Procter & Gamble said at the time. The trial is due to launch in the UK in June via Amazon, and the brand say that initiatives like these could help to eliminate 94 per cent of plastic jar waste in the beauty industry. “It’s important for us to get it right because only then can we bring this concept to market at scale.” Accompanying every moisturiser sold, the brand will include a recyclable refill pod to restock the original pot with the formula that it housed.
Ahead of the curve, L’Occitane launched its first eco-refills in 2008 – you can buy sachets of its formulas to refill your original (empty) product: “They use up to 90 per cent less plastic than a regular bottle, saving more than 170 tonnes of plastic each year,” says Corinne Fugier-Garrel, L’Occitane’s packaging concept design director. With an aim of achieving a “circular economy” and giving polluting materials a second life, the brand are including more in-store refill stations as one of their goals and intend to make the eco-refill packaging itself fully recyclable by 2025: “We see a constant growth in the demand for eco-refill, which is why we also intend to offer 25 different eco-refills by 2022.” No mean feat for a company of its size.
It seems that with every new launch in the beauty industry, comes an option to make it refillable – slowly, change is happening. Take Ouai’s new fine, medium and thick shampoos and conditioners. Jen Atkin, who founded the brand, recently told British Vogue that it sustainable options were of the utmost importance to the its one million strong social media community – as well as her and her team – so they created a near-litre refill pack that uses 60 per cent less plastic, soon to launch in the UK. Tata Harper’s new Water-Lock Moisturiser launched on Earth Day (22 April) and you can buy refill capsules rather than having to replace the whole pot each time you need more.
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For those that repeat-buy the same lipstick, everyone from Guerlain (Rouge G refillable lipsticks) to Hourglass (the sexy Confession lipsticks) and Charlotte Tilbury (the Hot Lips 2 collection) all offer refill options that help tackle the age-old problem of deconstructing a lipstick bullet, which is a tough task for even the most skilled. Plus, it’s a lovely way to treasure the original, sleek packaging you first bought. La Bouche Rouge, a chic Parisian lipstick brand, made its name foremost from being refillable, as well as for a wide array of colours and finishes. As for your signature scent? Le Labo refill empty bottles and offer a 20 per cent discount on the subsequent juice in the process; Lancôme has created refill stations for its Idole scent, and Jo Malone’s Fragrance Combining Palette is designed to be kept forever and allows you to pop out and refill with a choice of balmy “solid” scents.
Despite all being big steps in the right direction – and a way to get the ball rolling on expectations for future launches – refills are by no means the only answer. Other big brands, like Dior, have forgone refillable packaging for the Capture Totale C.E.L.L. Energy range which allows their consumer to separate every part of the packaging (a rarity – even the serum’s pump can be unscrewed) in softer, smaller shapes that allow for less of a carbon footprint during transportation.
So, while refills are one way, there are also other options for brands to take, something that Fugier-Garrel admits: “There is no single solution to limit the environmental impact of packaging. It depends on countries, product categories and consumer readiness. Eventually, it will be a mix of various solutions: chase of useless plastic, use of recycled PET, larger eco-refill offer and refill store.” Until then, the onus is on us, as consumers, making informed choices on the products we buy.