Packaging and refills – what are the eco friendly options?
Most laundry liquid still comes in single-use plastic bottles. Another option for laundry liquids is pods or pouches. Our dishwasher detergent guide will feature what’s wrong with pods and pouches. Suffice to say, none of these packaging options are recommended.
Laundry powder usually comes loose or as tablets in a cardboard box, which, if not from a recycled source, is at least renewable and biodegradable.
But new in this guide are several companies which gained a Company Ethos mark for having a business model that was all about refills. All have gone beyond the first step of the ‘waste hierarchy’ of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Refill-focused businesses
Fill Refill sells bags which you can return to them for refilling with laundry liquid (5l or 10l) or powder (10kg). Or they sell glass bottles you can refill at stations around the country. For more information about Fill Refill see the 'Companies behind the brands' box at the end of this guide.
Miniml sells 500ml glass/ PET bottles, 5L and 20L containers which you can return for reuse, or refill from zero waste, health food and farm shops across the UK.
SESI has refill stations for its laundry liquid in zero waste, farm and wholefood shops across the UK, and picks up the 5l and 20l containers for reuse. Use their ‘Find a Stockist’ page to search your area.
Splosh posts out concentrated refill pouches of laundry liquid (which they say reduce plastic by 95%) that can be returned and will either be reused or reprocessed for future products.
Bulk options
Of the brands which mainly sell single-use bottles, some offer bulk sizes that you can use to refill, using less plastic per ml. Bulk sizes are often much cheaper per ml too, but the outlay on the biggest sizes can be a bit much for you alone, or might take you years to get through, unless you share with others.
As well as the refill companies Fill Refill, Miniml and SESI, other brands which offer bulk options are: ATTITUDE, Bio-D, ecoleaf, Eco-max, Ecover, Faith in Nature, Greenscents, and Sonett. Of these only Faith in Nature and Greenscents take the bottles back for reuse.
Refill stations
Several of these bulk brands are also available from refill stations in alternative shops around the country. Some list these stations online so you can search for one near you. Some supermarkets have even experimented with refill stations.
As well as the refill companies SESI, Fill Refill and Miniml, other brands offered at refill stations include: Bio-D (list), ecoleaf, Ecover (list), Faith in Nature (list) and Greenscents.
Unilever, single-use plastic sachets and greenwashing
Greenpeace named Unilever, alongside other major brands, in a 2021 report that said it was playing a key role in driving demand for plastic (and therefore fossil fuels) because of its vast use of single-use plastic packaging in its products. In 2023 Greenpeace also revealed that the company is on track to sell 53bn non-reusable sachets containing anything from sauces to shampoo this year, breaking its commitment to switch away from single-use plastic. It said Unilever is set to miss its pledge to halve its use of virgin plastic by 2025 by nearly a decade. Changing Markets Foundation, a US-based campaign group, found that Unilever had replaced recyclable PET bottles of washing liquid with pouches as part of its push to encourage refills. The pouches were not recyclable and contained only two refills. The throwaway sachets are sold in large quantities to the global south.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating Unilever over concerns that consumers are being misled by the company’s “green” claims such as the use of “vague and broad” claims, unclear statements about recyclability, and natural-looking images and logos such as green leaves.
Unilever owns many brands including Persil and Surf.