Refills and Recycling

At Seilich, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We began by enhancing our local environment, creating wildflower meadows that boost biodiversity, enrich soil quality, and contribute to carbon sequestration.

We have now reached a point where we can advance our circularity efforts even further with something we've always aspired to offer – a refill scheme. But not just any refill scheme – we wanted one that truly aligns with our values. Our goal was to find a solution that is not only effective and meticulously researched from a sustainability perspective, but also convenient for our customers and perfectly suited to the size and reach of our company. 


To ensure we're staying true to our commitment to sustainability, we've partnered with OnRepeat, who offer compostable pouches. This partnership allows us to seamlessly integrate our refilling scheme with our sustainability goals. For more information on why we've chosen compostable pouches, how to use them, and to explore our current refill options, please refer to the following sections.

Refill Scheme: Why, What, How?

Why compostable pouches?

When designing our packaging scheme, our primary goal was to find the most sustainable and efficient packaging option available to us. To achieve this, Bright Green Business helped us to take on a sustainability intern, Aleks, who was able to conduct a comparison of the various packaging schemes available. It quickly became apparent that the world of packaging, refills and recycling was incredibly complex, however Aleks was able to consider everything, from the carbon and pollution/packaging impact of each option, to it's ease of use to the customer and financial viability for a small business such as Seilich.


Compostable refill pouches coupled with robust glass bottles that prolonged the life of our products, emerged as the best choice in several key areas we considered:

Glassware:

We chose to package our products in glassware as glass is endlessly and widely recyclable.  In addition, the particular type of glass that we use prevents UV light from entering the bottle, which prolong's it's shelf-life, meaning less waste associated with short-dated stock.  This was incredibly important to us due to the natural aspect of the ingredients we make and use, which often have a shorter shelf life than their synthetic counterparts.  As glass can have a large carbon footprint in it's manufacture, ensuring the longevity of the glassware, so it could be used again and again was incredibly important.  Therefore, the particular type of glass we have used has thicker walls, and is more robust that other types of glassware.  

Refill pouches:

Compostable pouches cut greenhouse gas emissions by almost half compared to the regular practice of sending empty containers back and forth. Unlike refilling heavy glass bottles which would have to travel both from our customers to our workshop and then back again, the refill pouches are only sent one way, delivered directly to your letterbox.  This significantly reduces the carbon footprint associated with transport, often the highest factor in refilling schemes, due to both distance and weight reductions!

Pouches are not only beneficial due to their single/one-way journey, but also as a result of waste reduction:

1/ because they pose a lower risk of damage during transport compared to glass containers (re-sending glass containers increases the risk of breakage, and since glass production is energy-intensive, pouches are a more sustainable option).

2/ sending glass containers requires additional protective packaging, leading to unnecessary waste where as the packaging used in the refill pouches is entirely biodegradable (degrading to non-toxic waste).

Most importantly, our pouches are compostable!  You can dispose of them in your home compost (with approximately 8 weeks composting time) or garden waste bin (check with your local council) or general waste if composting options are not available in your area.

It's worth mentioning that even if the pouch ends up in general waste and is incinerated, bio-films don't emit noxious gasses as they are made of layers of wood-pulp based cellulose and a bio-based biodegradable polymer.

You can find out more about the compostable pouches and FAQs on our partner's website OnRepeat. 

Convenience is essential for the success of any recycling/refilling scheme, as it determines customer participation. We aimed to make the entire process seamless and hassle-free. From washing containers to ordering your refill pouches, it takes less than 10 minutes, all done without leaving your home! This approach is especially beneficial since we are a small company not widely available in major retail stores (yet!).

Financial costs:

We would be lying if we said that financial considerations were not a significant factor in our decision-making process. Refilling schemes are costly especially for small businesses like ours due to additional expenses such as purchasing of high-quality equipment, energy expenditure, transportation, additional labour etc. Minimum Order Quantity requirements for packaging also pose challenges for a growing businesses.  Therefore, partnering with OnRepeat has enabled us to overcome these barriers and offer a refilling scheme within our financial means.

 

How to refill?

It's simple! When you see that you are running out of your favourite product:

 

1. Order: Go to our website and select 'refill' on your chosen product page.  

2. Clean: Once empty, wash your existing glass container (jar or a bottle) with hot water and soap and leave to dry.

3. Refill: Once your refill arrives, simply cut the indicated corner of the refilling pouch, turn it upside down and refill the container squeezing out the entire product from the pouch into your existing glass container.

4. Recycle: Recycle the cardboard packaging that came with the refill pouch. 

5. Compost*: Dispose of your compostable pouch (the metallic looking bit) in your home compost or garden waste bin*.  If your local council does not offer composting and you don't have a composter at home, dispose of the pouch in the general waste bin.  The pouch will break down into non-toxic bio waste.

6.  In the unlikely event that you don't want to replace your product, you can simply wash your existing glass bottle/jar and place it into your glass recycling bin, and the closure/pump top into the general waste (we have been reassured that these closures will also soon be available in a recyclable option which we'll switch to as soon as it becomes available).

* We advise to check your local council guidance on disposal of compostable packaging, category EN13432.

To find out more about our packaging and why we believe it is the most sustainable choice for our business, head over to our packaging page to find out more!

Which products can be refilled?

We're excited to start our refill scheme and we're committed to improving at every step of our refill journey. This is why we will be gradually expanding our refillable section based on your feedback. 

At the moment you can purchase following products as refillables:

Finally, since we are new to the refill scheme and value your opinion, we would highly appreciate it if you could fill out our customer survey by scanning the QR code on the card that arrives with your refill package.

We highly appreciate your feedback!