How Refilling Reduces Plastic Waste: Zero Co Case Study
How do reused forever bottles and refill pouches reduce plastic waste and how much waste is saved by using these instead of single-use plastic packaging? We find out how and how much by looking into what Zero Co has achieved so far in its mission to untrash the planet with its refillable cleaning and body care products.
TLDR: OVERALL IMPACT
Since launching in November 2020 Zero Co has:
saved the equivalent of 1,107,034 water bottles worth of rubbish from ending up in landfill
signed up 60K+ Aussie households who have switched to single-use plastic free home cleaning and bathroom products
removed the equivalent of 1,102,417 water bottles worth of rubbish from oceans and beaches
***use code REUSE10 for 10% off when you spend over $100 (T&Cs: One use per customer, Min Spend $100)
The story of Zero Co is a story of a great idea made possible through personal commitment to making it happen from founder Mike Smith and community support to make it happen from Australian waste warriors. Here’s how its model of refilling reduces plastic waste and how and why it has become a popular choice for those seeking waste-free cleaning and bathroom products, with it providing no single-use plastic in a way that is convenient and inclusive.
Less Plastic Waste Wanted
There was clear support for Zero Co’s deliver, refill, return, and reuse model from Australians the moment it was posted on Kickstarter. In fact, the campaign is one of Australia’s largest of all time, with $742,427 in pre-orders from almost 7,000 people and almost 11,000 pre-orders to ship on day one. It featured its original cleaning product refills – laundry liquid, dishwashing liquid, dishwasher tablets, multi-purpose cleaner, toilet cleaner, bathroom and shower cleaner, air freshener, stain remover, handwash and bodywash - which have now been joined by a range of new body care products – antiperspirant roll-on deodorant, body lotion, shampoo, and conditioner.
We asked Zero Co why it reckons people found the Kickstarter so appealing and gave it such massive support. “The business model meant that we could give back to the planet from day one. By funding large scale ocean clean ups with every purchase from a Zero Co customer, we’re able to clean plastic out of our oceans and beaches whilst we make product. It means our mission is never put on hold and continues to be the heart and soul of our business. People really connected with the mission during Kickstarter and the idea of being able to do something good for our planet in return for great products that don’t harm the environment was (luckily) very well received!” says Zero Co’s Founder, Mike Smith.
How Circular Packaging Models Like Zero Co’s Work
Through the power of reuse! Reuse always has the least impact as already used resources are repurposed rather than producing a new item from new resources. Zero Co’s refill model works by the user having a forever bottle, which is the bottle they will keep and refill using refill pouches. Users fill up their forever bottle when it’s empty and then send back the refill pouches to Zero Co for them to clean, refill and send back out to another customer, closing the loop.
Using its world-first automated pouch cleaning and sanitising machine, Zero Co cleans and sanities all the pouches that are returned to it by customers via post in an envelope and refills them. Through this, so far, Zero Co has stopped 1,074,039 600ml water bottles worth of plastic from going to landfill!
How Return for Reuse is Encouraged
The only caveat to the reuse rule is that the item must be reused over and over again. If a pouch isn’t returned, for instance, this breaks the circle and the system fails.
So, how does Zero Co ensure its pouches are returned and what is the return rate like?
“We send our customers reply-paid envelopes and ask them to return empty pouches back to us (for free) when they’ve got about 15 saved up. We’ve run some fun initiatives to get customers returning their empty pouches so we can continue to close the loop and make sure we’re cleaning and refilling whilst they’re reusing!”
Why the Bottles & Pouches Being Made from Plastic Isn’t a Bad Thing
Yes, Zero Co’s forever bottles and refill pouches are made from plastic, but it’s actually recycled plastic that has been diverted from our oceans, beaches and landfill. The company is dedicated to taking already made plastic out of the environment and in doing so, Zero Co has removed 1,102,417 600ml water bottles worth of rubbish from the ocean so far.
It did this by hosting a bunch of awesome clean up events, including:
collecting the equivalent of almost 300,000 water bottles worth of rubbish from the Java Sea off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia at its first ocean clean-up in December 2019,
collecting the equivalent of almost 15,000 worth of water bottles of rubbish off the bottom of Sydney Harbour in Australia (in only 24hrs!) at its second ocean clean-up in April 2021, and
collecting the equivalent of over 30,000 worth of water bottles of rubbish from K’gari (Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia) over three days at its third ocean and beach clean-up in June 2021.
And it’s not single-use plastic. Each pouch can be returned and reused over and over again!
The average Aussie uses 3,109 single-use plastic bottles – and that’s only of the 10 original products Zero Co made – in their lifetime. This works out to 1 billion plastic bottles that are used once and thrown away in Australia every year. 89% of which ends up in landfill. Add to that the 179 million single-use plastic bottles worth of shampoo, conditioner, roll-on deodorant and body lotion bought from the supermarket each year.
This number can be reduced to zero single-use plastic bottles by making the easy switch to getting returnable reusable pouches delivered to your door, which is Zero Co’s namesake and one half of its mission – to stop single-use plastic from going to landfill. The other half? It’s to clean up the rubbish in the ocean.
Taking Waste Reduction to Work
Not only tackling individual waste at home, Zero Co also promotes reducing waste at work. Through its Work Waste Challenge, it is hoping to inspire 1,000 Aussie businesses to go single-use plastic free before the end of July. Some of the 250 that have already signed up are Australia Post, Koala, Trek, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Virgin, ANZ, Lexus, and Accenture.
Would your workplace be up for the Work Waste Challenge? Why not suggest it and see!
Future Planet Friendly Products
In August 2021, Zero Co’s range was expanded to include single-use plastic free body care products. What’s next in line for return and refill?
In future, Zero Co’s plan is more ocean and beach clean-ups (it aims to remove 1.5 million water bottles worth of rubbish from the ocean by the end of 2022), even more products added to its range (it aims to stop 1.5 million water bottles worth of plastic from going to landfill by the end of 2022), scaling its pouch-cleaning operations and launching globally.
And, hopefully, to see other businesses take up the same model. Zero Co is so keen on ridding the planet of single-use plastic, it wants its competitors to copy its closed loop system. The more the better!
*this case study was a paid collaboration with Zero Co
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