The plastic pollution crisis is a result of convenience taking precedence over the environment. The impact of our dependence on this inappropriate material, and negligence to its effects on the planet, have resulted in the worldwide disaster.
There are several ways we are dealing with the problem of reducing plastic pollution. One of those is recycling. However, as good as the method is at reducing waste and pollution, its still an energy-hungry process and time-consuming.
Another approach is to reduce, and eventually eliminate whenever possible, our use of single-use plastic by reusing packaging. Like this, the need to grinding up the plastic and sending it back through the manufacturing process again can be dramatically reduced. One way to reuse packaging is through refill schemes that allow people to refill the same bottle with a product repeatedly before sending it to be recycled.
Some grocery store chains have implemented such schemes as trials to see if customers are willing to adopt the approach. For example, Sainsbury’s is introducing refillable packaging for milk and fizzy drinks, while Tesco is collaborating with Look to launch a refillable container scheme for 150 popular products. Also, in Colombia, the city of Medellin has provided refill machines for people to fill any container with cleaning products.
Now Beiersdorf, the Germany-based manufacturer of skincare products, is also testing a new kiosk that refills soap containers. The company designed the machine to distribute its Nivea shower gel product. They will be available at the dm-drogerie markt chain of German retail stores (one in Hamburg and one in Karlsruhe) and the ‘NIVEA Haus’ in Berlin. Beiersdorf hopes its customers will feel encouraged to reuse Nivea packaging since the refill station is so easy to use.
How A Refill Station Works
Marta Suslow, the Packaging Specialist for Beiersdorf’s cross-functional kiosk development team that spent six months getting the station market-ready, explained how the system works in an interview:
The procedure is very simple: Consumers take an empty plastic bottle from the station and fill it with the product of their choice – in other words, the NIVEA Creme Soft or the NIVEA Creme Sensitive shower gel. Payment is made using the printed label. To refill the bottle, the container is brought back to the store by the consumer. The plastic bottles can be refilled up to three times using the special barcode. After the third refill, the customer is then asked to hand in the old bottle at the checkout for hygiene reasons so that it can be recycled. In return, they will receive a new bottle and a first filling for free.
We wanted to market the idea quickly and, at the same time, focused on the issues of product safety, microbiology, and user-friendliness. That also included opting to use existing bottles in the first step. Each modification or in-house development would have taken up too much time. The new refill machine is simple and intuitive to use and meets the strictest Beiersdorf safety standards, for example, through special pumps, contact-free filling, and clearly defined cleaning cycles. We have currently restricted filling per packaging to three cycles – but in the practical test in the coming weeks, we want to find out exactly how our system is used in reality, and what number of cycles is safely possible.
Part of the project involves the testing of returned bottles. Beiersdorf will analyze the bottles before they are sent to be recycled to check their condition and determine if the refill limit needs to be reduced or can be increased. The focus is on customer safety. The company worries about the level of build-up bacteria on the bottles because they are often used by dirty hands in a bathroom setting where contaminated water is being splashed around.
A Circular Vision
Maximilian Schulz, the Junior Key Account Manager of the team, elaborated on the aim of the pilot project:
We have the vision of the perfect circular economy. Acting in an environmentally-friendly manner is important to us, which is why we are working on offering and further developing sustainable packaging solutions. Everyone’s talking about refill concepts, but only a few brands offer appropriate solutions, especially in Germany. With the new refill station for NIVEA shower gels, we want to gather initial important experience together with our consumers, avoid packaging waste, and promote the idea of the circular economy.
Caroline Zia, the R&D Senior Engineer of the group, added:
As Max already correctly pointed out, we want to promote sustainability on the market, but also gather experience, for example: What is the general acceptance among consumers, and where are there hurdles? And what other processes make sense? In addition, we want to carry out microbiological tests on the machine and the returned bottles during the pilot phase – and learn from the realistic experiences of the consumers.
If this trial project goes well, the next phase involves the rollout of the kiosks to other countries and the development of a similar system for countless other cosmetic products. The goal is to ultimately provide customers with the ability to fill any product into any container they prefer to take plastic out of the equation for good.
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