The Future of beauty: refillable products
Refillable products are coming up in a big way, allowing us to sidestep waste and refill our favourite products as soon as the content gets low
Words & Art: Sasha Wardrop
The beauty industry has a plastic problem. In 2018, a study found that more than 120 billion units of plastic packaging are produced by the beauty industry annually and is accountable for approximately 30-40% of all landfill waste.
However, a new trend has emerged in the beauty industry to help us to break the vicious consume-and discard cycle and the center of the problem. Refillable products, or what we like to call Keep-Forever-Cosmetics, are coming up in a big way, allowing us to sidestep waste and refill our favourite products as soon as the content gets low. Not to mention the money you save when buying top-ups, which can often be up to 50% cheaper than the full product.
Sustainability is a key pillar of Danish makeup brand Kjaer Weiss, who sells luxurious metal makeup compacts that can be infinitely refilled. It gets better, their refill trays are packaged in biodegradable materials AND they have recently launched their “Red Edition” which uses 100% recyclable and compostable components.
It’s all Fluff, a Melbourne start-up is also changing the beauty game for the better. Fluff is the brainchild of Frank Body co-founder, Erika Geraerts, who wants girls to buy and wear less makeup. Their iconic cloud collection, made without palm oil, talc, or other ingredients that are either bad for your skin, or the planet, can be refilled again and again.
Perfume brands have also been jumping onto the refillable trend with cult favourites, Le Labo and Viktor & Rolf offering consumers the option to refill their favourite perfumes for 20% cheaper than buying a new bottle.
Another product that has changed our beauty routine forever! Odesse creates beautiful solid refillable perfumes that not only eliminates waste but saves water as well. Read our interview with Odesse founder here.
If deodorant is what you are after, Mryo has you covered. With Myro you can choose your container and the scent of your deodorant and for just $10 a month they will keep topping you up with new refills.
Perhaps the chicest example of keep-forever cosmetics is Gloss Moderne, a haircare brand who sell their paraben and sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner, in luxurious aluminum dispensers which can be refilled.
Single use ain’t sexy, is another Australian company helping the beauty and cosmetics industry with its plastic problem. They make refillable ‘just add water’ products, such as hand soap, designed to eradicate single-use plastic bottles.
And it’s not just niche brands making this change, L’Oreal is aiming to make 100% of their packaging reusable, refillable or compostable by 2025, and to source 50% of their packaging from recycled materials.
