Nature harnessed,
not harmed

Our new 500ml bottles are made from 100% recycled and infinitely recyclable aluminium. Yes, the carbon footprint of one aluminium bottle is higher than the carbon footprint of one (recycled) plastic bottle — but respective recycling rates are worlds apart. In the EU, plastic recycling rates are around 10%, whereas recycling rates for aluminium are 86% (and aluminium drinks cans can often be back on the shelves, recycled, in just 60 days) . This obviously means far fewer planetary resources are needed — and if you refill one of our aluminium bottles just once, its carbon footprint drops below that of our 100% recycled plastic 400ml bottle.

We’re working on switching more and more of our products into aluminium, whilst also making the carbon footprint of that aluminium as low as possible. Watch this space.

Our 400ml bottles have been recycled and recyclable since 1999. It’s why they’ve always had that funny grey tinge. Because if we’re going to use plastics (and unfortunately we do still need to), then we want to ensure that as much of that plastic as possible is already in existence. One day, we hope we’ll find a way to ditch it for good. But until that day, it's about tackling the problem in a number of smaller ways. You can read at length about our plastic usage (and what we're doing about it) here.

Our 100ml, 300ml, 400ml, 1L and 2.5L bottles are recyclable and made from 100% Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) waste plastic, while our 5L currently contains 30% PCR waste plastic. This last one goes up and down as we’re constantly working with new suppliers to find a bottle with increased recycled content that doesn’t crack or split (which recycled plastic is more prone to do than virgin). We are currently working on a solution for our 20L bottles, and are always reviewing our supply chains to source packaging materials with increased recycled content, while not compromising on recyclability. We now also use 100% recyclable pumps (ie. made without the metal spring commonly found in pumps which makes them very hard to recycle).

A note: As a manufacturing business, we have complex supply chains which rely on many moving parts – and we’re increasingly experiencing issues getting hold of the recycled materials we want to use. This is a challenge that we’re addressing, seeking secondary suppliers that can meet our requirements. We also want to be as transparent as we can with our customers, so if our packaging isn’t what we intended it to be, we’ll put a sticker on it to let you know. Sometimes supply issues can get in the way of our ambitions, but we’re constantly pushing for recycled content wherever we can.

We’ve been making our products in big 5 litre bottles for decades — but it’s only recently that people have really started buying them from us. And we’re so glad they do because the maths is pretty simple: the bigger the bottle, the bigger the difference it makes. Our 5 litre bottles hold the equivalent of 12.5 smaller bottles. And our whopping 20 litre bottles hold the equivalent of 50 smaller ones. Yes, the bigger bottles use thicker plastic — but they still use substantially less plastic than the combined volume of the smaller bottles. So whether you refill at home or refill at one of our many refill stores, refill really does mean less landfill.

We tie ourselves in knots trying to close the loop on our products — and have been trying to figure out how best to do this since before ‘closed loop’ was a thing. Previous attempts have looked good, then not so good. So right now, we’re back to trialling new methods — and by returning your bottles to us, you help us reach better solutions, faster.

Our hope is that very soon all large format bottles returned to us can either be washed and refilled or ground down and remoulded. For smaller bottles, the best way to close the loop at home is by refilling them over and over again.

Between our plastics policy, refill availability and closed loop scheme, we like to think we’re passing on as little of the plastics problem to our customers as possible. But the gold standard in not passing on the problem is zero waste. And our shampoo bars and conditioner bars do just that. Zero plastic. Zero sulphates. And zero compromises on great hair days. It’s why you might sometimes hear us refer to them as our moon-on-a-stick-haircare-bars. (Because when the planet’s on the line, only the moon on a stick will do).

We also have a zero waste to landfill policy in operation on site, certified as far back as 2018. This means that everything we can recycle from our site is collected, sorted and recycled, and the remainder of our waste is burned for energy in a Waste to Energy Facility. Our overall waste was reduced by 3.92% in the last year compared to the previous year, and we’re actively seeking out new suppliers to recycled hard to manage waste streams.