Hey Marina, great question. Refill is harder than it looks. This is because you need to have separate processing facilities to clean and decontaminate the tubs and have a logistical system in place to manage the transport with minimal environmental and cost impacts.
Chalk bucket is a good one! They could also be used for plants and gardening (as you can tell by my general suggestion I’m not a very good gardener).
I love this idea and from a sustainability perspective could certainly be a solution. Again lots of difficulties in getting to a point where it’s available to all Hueligans but if we end up pursuing this and getting it to work, I’ll let you know!
I know a recyclable pouch is the ambition but we don’t have an ETA on that at the moment, but in the mean time, what about a recycling scheme (Terracycle?) for 20 pouches or more?
There are users on the forum who are stockpiling their pouches in the hope that at some point in the future they can be recycled instead of dumped. I do feel bad each time I dump my pouch, given that it seems volume is the only real reason why a scheme isn’t in place.
I stockpile my crisp packets now and take them every 3+ months to somewhere I can drop them off. I do the same with my cosmetic brand who take their sugarcane tubes back and my Carex refills.
We have looked into Terracycle but they are very expensive. It seems more like a plaster and short-term solution so we haven’t pursued it compared to other longer-term options.
It’s a good question, but I’m not aware of it being something that Terracycle offer because there is also a license fee to pay.
There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes and we are looking into so many different sustainable packaging options. We have a whole team on the case!
Thanks for the replies Dan and we’re not doubting the effort going into a long term solution, but given that could still be years away, a short to medium term solution would be nice.
So with Terracycle, a business has to pay a licence fee + a cost for each item sent in by us?
Yes, the last time I looked into it I believe that was the system.
I totally agree. To give some more context, a packaging solution for us is one that results in an overall lower environmental impact.
So, while a recyclable packaging option on the face of it may seem more sustainable, it could result in a shorter shelf-life, which increases food waste, which overall increases the environmental impact.
At the moment, we haven’t found a solution that results in a lower impact.