Liquid personal-care products are sold almost exclusively in single-use plastic bottles
#00016
Shampoo, conditioner, body wash and liquid soap are overwhelmingly packaged in single-use plastic bottles that are rarely recycled. The format persists because plastic is cheap, light, unbreakable and water-resistant, and supply chains are built around it — no alternative yet be…
#00019Refill systems are not durable unless they are more profitable than single-use plastic
Refill schemes that depend on consumer goodwill or regulation are fragile: goodwill self-selects for a niche, and regulation varies, can be repealed and is fought by incumbents. A system only becomes permanent if it is genuinely more profitable for the companies running it than…
#00018Refill systems fail at the last mile
Bulk soap transport already exists between factories; it fails to reach consumers. The last mile breaks down on five fronts: contamination risk in reused containers, reverse logistics to collect/clean/refill, messy dispensing, retail integration for variable quantities, and cons…
#00017Liquid personal-care products are mostly water, wasting transport capacity when shipped
Shampoo and liquid soap are mostly water (often 70–90%+ by weight). Shipping ready-to-use liquid means moving large volumes of water that is already freely available at the point of use — wasting transport capacity and fuel, and forcing the large, sturdy single-use bottle the wa…