When you throw a plastic bottle into the recycling, there’s no guarantee that it will actually be recycled. In fact, it probably won’t.
According to the World Economic Forum, just 14% of all plastic packaging is collected for recycling around the world. Since the recycling process is so complex, huge amounts of ‘recycling’ that gets thrown away ends up getting burned or tossed into landfills anyway.
As Sander Defruyt, in charge of plastic innovation initiatives at the Ellen MacArthur, a sustainability-focused non-profit, said, “Recycling our way out of [the climate crisis] will not work. Reuse, as well as plain elimination of a lot of packaging we don’t need, will also have to be a crucial part of the solution.”
To really understand this issue, picture a typical bottle of hand soap.
It’s incredibly awkwardly shaped, meaning huge amounts of wasted space during transportation, the pump is a recycling nightmare, and all for a product that’s mostly water. It doesn’t make much sense.
Many people are ditching even recyclable products altogether, instead opting for the refillable.
There are tonnes of benefits to using refillable products. The most obvious, of course, is that they use less plastic.
This means that it’s better for the environment, avoiding the emissions that usually come from plastic production and saving the lives of marine mammals and seabirds worldwide. Less plastic, however, is only part of the story.
As we touched on before, it can also mean fewer lorries used due to space saved in transportation, meaning fewer emissions. This is especially the case with pouches, as 840 of them take up the same space as 30 plastic bottles.
Even if the packaging on refillable items isn’t recyclable, it’s still better for the planet than single-use recyclable products.
Perhaps one of the best things about buying refillables is that it’s actually less expensive. Which? investigated this and found that over 90% of refillable products were cheaper per ml than their original counterparts. And it’s not just by a little, some were up to 44% less pricey!
This investigation also revealed the most commonly ought refillable items, including things such as soap and shampoo. Of course, cutting down in the bathroom where plastic is everyone makes sense.
That’s why Play it Green want to introduce you to a product you may not think could be refillable; Proverb’s Refillable Deodorant.
The deodorant can be personalised with three different strength levels, including options for sensitive skin, and there’s a whole range of case colours to choose from, so you can really make it your own.
All of the ingredients are vegan-friendly, aluminium-free, and the deodorant itself is hand-made in the U.K., meaning less travel too.
Pick whichever scent you like best to not only smell amazing all day long but also reduce waste with their compostable paper-wrapped refills.
And the best part? Only buy once! From then on, it’s just refills.
Lasting three times as long as the typical aerosol deodorant and delivered directly to your door, that’s just 30p a day to stay fresh.
You can shop here, and if you subscribe you can get 20% off.