Beauty Kitchen is to launch 1,000 Refill Stations in UK locations over the next two years, and predicts that these sustainable touchscreen machines will save over 100 million single-use plastic bottles.
The Refill Stations dispense reusable aluminium bottles and printed labels with all the required legal information and offer semi-automated filling for ease of use, safety and hygiene. Customers can choose from a selection of organic, vegan, microplastic-free, natural, Leaping Bunny-certified products, with prices starting at £5 for 500ml. The initial offer includes shampoos, conditioners, body and hand washes and cleansers.
Starting in April, the scheme will see the Refill Stations located in major high street and independent zero waste, grocery and retail stores, university campuses, train stations, garden centres, beauty salons and major office complexes.
The machines have been designed using cradle-to-cradle principles and can be remanufactured to incorporate updated technology eliminating future waste. The bulk dispensing bottles are collected by Beauty Kitchen and washed and reused with all of its other packaging as part of the Return • Refill • Repeat programme.
The initiative was announced at the Celebrating Circular Economy in Action event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, hosted by co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, William McDonough.
“Beauty Kitchen truly are the leading the market in both their reuse and refill innovations,” McDonough said at the event. “Their dedication, enthusiasm and energy to the mission is infectious whilst their appetite to collaborate with suppliers, customers and competitors to achieve their goals will drive global change.”
Beauty Kitchen founder Jo Chidley added: “Beauty Kitchen exists to pioneer sustainable change in the beauty industry. Whilst being the first UK high street beauty business to become a B Corporation and launching Return • Refill • Repeat was a great start, the refill stations will bring access to the circular economy to millions of households. We hope that other beauty and household brands and retailers will collaborate with us to extend the impact of our innovation.”
