Ditch The Plastic: 21 Refillable Beauty Buys We Love

You may have switched to a bamboo toothbrush, or a reusable coffee cup in your bid to become a greener consumer this year, for which, well done. But chances are your make-up bag is still a strong-hold for single-use plastics. The good news? It doesn’t have to be that way.

A hundred and twenty billion units of retail packaging are created every year in the UK, much of which is not recyclable and the beauty industry is a prime culprit. Many brands are making strides to offer refillable, or plastic-free, packaging options but from a hygiene or scientific point of view, many formulas, such as serums and mascaras, cannot be made refillable due to the risk of bacteria growth or cross contamination.

The good news is that common household beauty products that we tend to use as a household in larger volumes – think hand wash, shampoo and body lotions – are now widely available in refillable packaging. Research from The LCA Centre states that by buying a refill instead of a new product you can help make a 70 per cent CO2 saving, a 65 per cent energy saving and 45 per cent water saving.

Of course, going for products that use plastic-free packaging in the first place, or opting for packaging-free products is a great first port of call. But to assuage damage, we round up seven of the best refillable products that we’ve found in the course of our research.