EP126. Are we ready for refillable beauty?

I have frequently and publicly said before that I optimistically envisage a future where we use longer lasting multifunctional cosmetic formulations obtained from our local refilling schemes provided by eco minded brands, using sustainably sourced ingredients or formulated at home for our own use. But are we all prepared to take part in that future? After all, this would require a fairly radical change in how we consume cosmetics. Can you picture collecting all of your empty packaging and taking them back to the store either to swap for clean packaging or to refill your original packaging? Can you imagine yourself walking or driving or cycling or taking public transport to get there? Well, last week here on the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, I shared an interview with Jo Chidley, co founder of RiRi and Beauty Kitchen and an absolute pioneer in circularity for beauty. The beauty industry can learn a lot from Jo and her incredible energy to make beauty more sustainable. Jo and I discussed the refillable packaging her business has created, which is being rolled out across the beauty industry. And we discussed her big vision to make beauty circular. But the question I want to explore on the podcast today is are we all actually ready for refills? Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, Chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online Organic Cosmetic Formulation Formulation School Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions which I share my takeaways from the podcast interview that was released last week and challenge you to join me in making the Green Beauty sexe a better place. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. So I read a sobering article recently which detailed the number of zero waste stores that are going out of business in the UK since life has resumed as the pandemic has changed during lockdown, sales boomed in many of these refill stores because people slowed down their lives and also because supermarket slots were scarce. But since the degree of normality has returned in some countries, and I appreciate that this might not be the case where you're currently listening from, but it is here. People have gone back to adopting their fast paced lifestyles which doesn't appear to incorporate refills. In other words, the news suggests that we've moved back to prioritizing convenience over sustainability. After last week's podcast, I started asking myself where the shoppers might end up being the biggest barrier to refillable beauty actually taking off. So in response, I polled the members of our skincare Entrepreneur Mastermind group on Facebook, which hosts over 74,000 people around the world, and I asked them the question, if you had the ability to take your empties back to a nearby refilling station, would you want to go to the effort of cleaning your cosmetic packaging, drying it, and then traveling to the nearest place to get your refill? Well, 245 people took part and 75% of them said yes, 22% said no, and 3% said, I don't know. Now, these poll results are very interesting, and I'm really grateful to everyone who took part, but I will say that the comments I received with the poll were even more fascinating than the results themselves. A lot of people said that they would happily head to their nearest refill station, but I do think in general that people often feel pressured in that sort of poll to say the right thing. So I do question whether, when push comes to shove, people would actually collect their empties, clean them out, and make their way to the nearest refilling station. Some of my poll respondents were brutally honest too, and they said no way. And they then explained why. One person said skincare is a luxury that I want to enjoy in shiny new packaging and suggested that a refill station might be better suited to cleaning products. Another person very honestly admitted that it simply wouldn't fit into her already very overwhelming routine and added that she lives in a big city where nothing is really a quick drive. Yet another person very honestly said, no, this is too much work. And then on top of that, I received lots and lots of comments about hygiene. When faced with the concept of cleaning your own containers to refill, many respondents basically said that they were worried about contamination, so would always prefer to give the container back to the brand to clean. In fact, one of my poll respondents who ran a refilling scheme in her brick and mortar store for cleaning products shared the story of customers bringing in filthy containers, expecting them to be refilled, and then getting annoyed if they were told that their containers weren't clean enough. She even mentioned that some people would bring in old milk bottles, which is perhaps not the best idea. Hygiene is clearly always going to be an issue when it comes to refills, as standards are not equal across the board. Nonetheless, the overall majority of respondents in my poll said yes, they would go to the effort of traveling to a refilling station for a refill, but I do question whether inconvenience might sometimes get in the way. I would vote yes in that poll too, but I regularly have weeks where I work 50 to 60 hours because life is so hectic. At Formula Botanica, when I finish work, I often feel exhausted and I really don't feel the urge to jump in the car and refill my beauty products. I'm sure I'm not alone, but. And none of us should be made feel bad about this either. The answer, of course, is that refills must become convenient. And this is also what Jo talked about in my interview with her last week. The logical step to make is that refillable packaging must start to become the norm in all stores and all supermarkets, where you either refill it there or simply return your packaging for cleaning, which would of course take care of people's hygiene concerns. This isn't a new concept either. I mean, I grew up in the Netherlands and we used to take our empty drinks bottles and beer bottles back to the supermarket. There was a little hatch at the back of the supermarket where you put your bottles in an automated conveyor belt and and then it automatically calculated how many bottles you provided and then printed out a barcode to scan which deducted money from your total bill in the store. And that was happening back in the 80s. I'm sure if you speak to your older family members, they will have more stories from before about refills and reuse. But to circle back to such a world is going to require a mindset shift from the entire beauty industry, where brands no longer expect their customers to dispose of their packaging, but instead expect to receive the majority of it back for cleaning. This shouldn't be a huge change to make, but I think all of us know that it will be. However, once we've wrestled through this difficult period and we absolutely need people like Joe Chidley to lead the way for us, then we can finally move to a consumer world where we aim to reuse before we recycle. So my challenge to you for this week is to see if you have any refilling stations or zero waste stores near you, or stores that take back your empties. If you do and you're not frequenting them yet, add in a trip next time you're in the area, get some empty jars or bottles ready. Just go and try it. See what you think. Try to imagine building this step into your shopping habits. It will take time for us to adjust to such a big shift, but it all starts with making small lifestyle changes first. Thank you for listening to my green beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast. Please make sure you do so in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode.