Refilling a bottle instead of throwing it away has become a popular way for people to reduce waste — a small, tangible action in response to larger environmental problems.
If it’s not cheaper, the majority of people will not adopt this.
Price is way more important to consumers.
And the consumer should not be responsible for reducing non-recyclable packaging. Companies need to develop biodegradable packing,. They are actually the ones responsible for the plastic problem.
For certain food styles, I buy bulk spices sometimes because I don’t like to pay for an entire jar I won’t use, knowing that most of it will go stale by the time I’m through the jar. Being able to buy tiny quantities is sometimes way cheaper.
I’m also mismatched in my conditioner and shampoo remaining where I can buy the matching set and let the difference persist, or I can try to buy a single catch-up bottle of whatever I have excess of, to hope that they even out by the time I get to the bottom of a bottle.
Basically, I can imagine where it might be preferable (for both cost and convenience) to buy an arbitrary amount of something rather than buy a fixed factory container of that thing. I know I already do it for certain things.
For certain food styles, I buy bulk spices sometimes because I don’t like to pay for an entire jar I won’t use, knowing that most of it will go stale by the time I’m through the jar. Being able to buy tiny quantities is sometimes way cheaper.
Have you considered sharing with friends/family who would use the same spices or other supplies? I sometimes do this with spices, legumes, baking soda, etc.
That keeps the spices from going to waste, but unless there’s a cultural shift in which we’re all sharing leftovers like that, it doesn’t address the price argument. They’re still paying more overall because they’re overbuying.
Yes, I also receive goodies shared by friends/family too. Could be stuff we’ve bought in bulk, or stuff we’ve made (soap, jam, crocheted blankets…) or grown in the garden.
Refills should be cheaper, but until large supermarkets start doing it there isn’t really a cheaper option. Would love to see aldi have a line of IBC tanks to dispense various liquids. 5 litres of honey please.
If a million people wash their containers at home that uses water and energy, and time of course. Transporting empty containers to be refilled uses energy as well.
Refilling your small containers at the supermarket takes time as well. Additional staff is needed to manage, observe, and help with the refilling.
The big containers the shop gets also has to be returned and refilled. The washing and transport also costs water, energy, and time.
It’s not clear refilling at the shop can even be cheaper, use less water and energy overall. A lot of small scale manual labor is introduced. Meaning economies of scale and automation isn’t used.
A more sensible solution would be to have standardized reusable containers. The end customer can return the empty container at the shop, it gets sent back to the factory where they are washed and refilled. Then you can skip the extra refill step at the shop completely.
That said reusable packaging isn’t always going to be more environmentally friendly or cheaper. Transport and cleaning isn’t free, neither is the extra labor involved.
There’s a lot of cargo culting going on in this area. For example replacing plastic with paper. Paper uses multiple times the water and energy to produce compared to plastic. To make paper you need to cut down trees. If you want comparable strength, you need heavier paper than plastic. Meaning you also need to transport more weight around. The biggest downside of plastic is it ending up in the environment. If you have a well functioning waste disposal, waste incineration, and recycling system, this is mitigated up to a certain extent.
If it’s not cheaper, the majority of people will not adopt this. Price is way more important to consumers. And the consumer should not be responsible for reducing non-recyclable packaging. Companies need to develop biodegradable packing,. They are actually the ones responsible for the plastic problem.
It might be cheaper in some settings.
For certain food styles, I buy bulk spices sometimes because I don’t like to pay for an entire jar I won’t use, knowing that most of it will go stale by the time I’m through the jar. Being able to buy tiny quantities is sometimes way cheaper.
I’m also mismatched in my conditioner and shampoo remaining where I can buy the matching set and let the difference persist, or I can try to buy a single catch-up bottle of whatever I have excess of, to hope that they even out by the time I get to the bottom of a bottle.
Basically, I can imagine where it might be preferable (for both cost and convenience) to buy an arbitrary amount of something rather than buy a fixed factory container of that thing. I know I already do it for certain things.
Have you considered sharing with friends/family who would use the same spices or other supplies? I sometimes do this with spices, legumes, baking soda, etc.
That keeps the spices from going to waste, but unless there’s a cultural shift in which we’re all sharing leftovers like that, it doesn’t address the price argument. They’re still paying more overall because they’re overbuying.
Yes, I also receive goodies shared by friends/family too. Could be stuff we’ve bought in bulk, or stuff we’ve made (soap, jam, crocheted blankets…) or grown in the garden.
Refills should be cheaper, but until large supermarkets start doing it there isn’t really a cheaper option. Would love to see aldi have a line of IBC tanks to dispense various liquids. 5 litres of honey please.
It’s not necessarily cheaper overall either.
If a million people wash their containers at home that uses water and energy, and time of course. Transporting empty containers to be refilled uses energy as well.
Refilling your small containers at the supermarket takes time as well. Additional staff is needed to manage, observe, and help with the refilling.
The big containers the shop gets also has to be returned and refilled. The washing and transport also costs water, energy, and time.
It’s not clear refilling at the shop can even be cheaper, use less water and energy overall. A lot of small scale manual labor is introduced. Meaning economies of scale and automation isn’t used.
A more sensible solution would be to have standardized reusable containers. The end customer can return the empty container at the shop, it gets sent back to the factory where they are washed and refilled. Then you can skip the extra refill step at the shop completely.
That said reusable packaging isn’t always going to be more environmentally friendly or cheaper. Transport and cleaning isn’t free, neither is the extra labor involved.
There’s a lot of cargo culting going on in this area. For example replacing plastic with paper. Paper uses multiple times the water and energy to produce compared to plastic. To make paper you need to cut down trees. If you want comparable strength, you need heavier paper than plastic. Meaning you also need to transport more weight around. The biggest downside of plastic is it ending up in the environment. If you have a well functioning waste disposal, waste incineration, and recycling system, this is mitigated up to a certain extent.