31, May 2024
Create Your Own Refill Station at Home
We’ve been making bigger bottles for decades, so we’re thrilled that so many of you have joined our refill revolution. It’s simple – refill means less landfill. Want to set up your very own at-home refill station? Here’s how…
Why refill at home?
Refilling at home saves time, money and cuts down carbon emissions and waste. It means fewer deliveries or shopping trips, a longer supply of the products you love and crucially, less plastic. The maths just makes sense: our 5-litre bottle holds the equivalent of 12.5 of our smaller ones, while our whopping 20-litre bottle holds 50.
For busy families, refilling ensures you never run out of essentials like laundry liquid, washing up liquid, hand wash, body wash and haircare. It’s also a fun, hands-on way to educate children about plastic and the planet.
Eco-friendly and economical, refills are about a slower, more conscious style of living. They’re in it for the long term, just like us.
Where to set up your home refill station
Set up your refill station wherever makes the most sense in your home.
If you’re bulk-buying household products, a shelf in a laundry room or understairs cupboard should do the trick. Switching to refillable shampoo and conditioner? You could choose a spot under the bathroom sink, or inside an airing cupboard.
Short on space? Windowsills can work well, especially with our compact 2.5-litre bottles. In fact, that’s the great thing about this – you don’t need any fancy fittings or fixtures to get started, just a handy little place for your refills to call home.
What size refill bottle is right for you?
The bigger the bottle, the more plastic (and time, and money) you save. Our refills come in a choice of sizes to suit your space and needs.
- 20-Litre Refill: Our biggest refill of all, this bumper bottle holds 20 litres, which is 50 times the amount of our standard, 400ml bottles! It’s great for busy families with plenty of storage space.
- 5-litre Refill: Holding 12.5 times the amount of our standard, 400ml bottles, this refill is a firm favourite for home refill stations. It measures 130mm wide by 185mm deep and has a height of 385mm (excluding pump). These bottles slot in neatly next to each other on a shelf.
- 2.5-Litre Refill: Especially for those who want to refill at home but are low on space, there’s our little big bottle: the 2.5-litre. It measures a diminutive 102mm wide, 146mm deep and 223mm high – making it perfect for creating a compact refill station.
- 1-Litre Refill: If you’re reeeally short of space but committed to cutting down on plastic waste, our 1-Litre bottles are just the job. Use them to make a mini refill station, or pop them in your bath or shower and use straight from the bottle.
Accessorise Your Refill Station
So, you’ve got your refill bottles of your favourite products ready to go – what else do you need? Here are some tips for things you might like to add to your refill station before you get going…
- Pumps: Our specially-designed pump dispensers make refilling easy peasy. Some people still prefer to refill using a funnel, but pumps are less messy and mean you don’t have to move your bottle from the refill station every time you decant. Plus, there’s something very satisfying about pressing the pump and watching the product land in the refill bottle!
- Refill-A-Bottles: You can decant the products in your refill station into any vessel you like, but our handy, shiny, infinitely recyclable aluminium Refill-A-Bottle was made for the job. It comes with a pump to make dispensing easy. Need more than one? Use elastic bands or thread around the neck of the bottle for colour coding, so you can keep track of what’s in each one.
- Drip Buckets: Sometimes pumps can drip a little after you’ve used them. Hanging a mini metal bucket over the edge of a pump by its handle prevents mess and waste – and takes up very little space. The picture below shows our office refill station, complete with mini buckets!
- Cloths: Having a washable cloth on hand at your refill station is always a good idea, in case of any drips or spillages.
- Decoration: If your refill station isn’t tucked away in a cupboard, style it and turn it into a feature! Add ornaments or books to the shelf or windowsill – or stick to the Nature theme and bookend your bottles with a couple of potted plants.