Waking up early to find it’s still dark outside - a byproduct of Autumn that particularly bothers me. I reluctantly pull myself out of bed to put a laundry wash on. The weather app on my phone promises a clear day on what feels like the first in weeks. Carefully filling the machine, I recoil in horror as the last few drops of fabric softener materialise. Whilst disappointed with the newly discovered prospect of a less-than-satisfactory softness to my clothes for the following week, I acknowledge that a new opportunity for a plastic-free deed has conveniently presented itself. With emotions as mixed as the contents of my washing machine (my deepest apologies), I rinse out the container and prepare for an excursion.
Consumables #1: Detergent / Fabric Softener / Washing up Liquid
Having grown quite font of Ecover products in recent years, I’m aware that the brand positions itself as being particularly eco-conscious. With this in mind, I had already explored the possibility of Ecover refills a few weeks back, and to my delight, it is absolutely a thing.
From their website https://www.ecover.com/store-locator/
“Join the #REFILLUTION and start to refill your Ecover bottles at Refill Stations across the UK. Our bottles can be used more than 50 times, that’s a shed load of plastic savings. You can refill Washing Up Liquids, Laundry Liquids and All-Purpose Cleaners.”
I’m unsure of the motivation behind the 50 reuse disclaimer; perhaps on the 51st refill, the container vanishes in a thick cloud of plastic-rich smoke. But this feels like a reasonable lifespan to me. Even if you typically go through one of these bottles every 4 months, you’re looking at over 16 years of ‘approved’ use.
Beneath this blurb lies a sea of purple markers forming what appears to be an optimistic plan of National Trust Castles, but is in reality an interactive map denoting of all the refill locations in the UK. So far as I can see there are enough spread about such that most major towns and cities have at least one nearby, with a significantly more dense offering in the south. (Newcastle seems uninterested in Ecover products). Remarkably, there’s one pin hovering over the Shetland Islands, and one in the provincial capital of Burgos in northern Spain, if that’s useful knowledge to anyone; My mind conjures an image of brand-committed expats swarming to La Tienda Orgánica to refill their numerous detergent containers after an early afternoon siesta.
Predominantly these refills seem to be set up in natural / organic / earth / eco shops, and so depending on your shopping habits, it might not be immediately obvious that there happens to be one right under your nose. Stepping foot into one such emporium, I’m warmly greeted by a smiling and especially conversational woman, who leads me to the end of the building where an arrangement of refill boxes resides. After a lengthy induction in what might have been mistaken to be gym equipment, and a particular highlighted awareness of the single roll of kitchen towel designated for likely spillage cleanup, she leaves me to proceed unsupervised. I am however interrupted mid-flow by a confused looking spectator, whom it seemed destined to fill up her washing up liquid bottle with laundry detergent, were it not for my immediate intervention.
The cost of this refill is (from my brief in-shop googling) on par with supermarket prices, if not a little above. As far as I can tell, this is a fairly ad-hoc distribution network of free enterprise (You can buy the refills from Ecover yourself if so inclined) and so this price is likely to vary between stockists. This is however not the only solution. Zero waste shops of all kinds (more on these soon) have their own nominated and often unlabelled brand of products which are almost certainly cheaper. It’s absolutely worth looking into, since some are even produced locally.
Pleased with the success of my first refill, I exit with my mind a-flurry, already conceiving of ideas for my next plastic-free move.
