Ecostore Launches its First-Ever Refillable Aluminium Bottles for Hand and Dish Wash To Tackle Our Make-take-waste Culture

Ecostore is ‘walking the talk’ by providing a circular solution and introducing its first-ever refillable aluminium bottles for hand and dish wash products to reduce Aotearoa’s single use plastic waste pollution and emissions.

The new ecostore Refill Bottle is 100% aluminium, is designed to be kept for reusing and refilling again and again, and is also a great solution for reducing landfill waste due to its infinitely recyclability. Kiwi households can reduce, reuse, and recycle thanks to the new sustainable packaging. Also, when aluminium bottles are eventually recycled and remade they only use 5 per cent of the energy and emits 5 per cent of the CO2, compared with the first time it was made, which ecostore sees as an environmental win.

Ecostore has teamed up with five other environmental and sustainability conscious companies to show they are ‘walking the talk’ following the Climate Change Commission’s recently released draft plan. In the plan it said Aotearoa needs to fundamentally change the way it deals with and thinks about waste. Ecostore believes the launch of new aluminium bottles available for refill is one way the sector can help, not only reduce emissions, but make it easier and more accessible for the average Kiwi to turn our current throw away culture to one that values its resources.

Ecostore, along with Kōkako, Again Again, Chia Sisters, Lewis Road Creamery and Batchwell Kombucha have joined forces for a dedicated refill event on March 19 – COVID dependent – at Britomart Place between 11am – 2.30pm to reduce plastic waste by educating others about the circular economy through reuse and refilling. The companies will be providing special offers to those who bring their reusable containers to refill at the event.

Pablo Kraus, group CEO of ecostore said: “The launch of our new aluminium bottles is another essential step for us in reducing and reusing waste and keeping waste out of the environment. We are thrilled to partner with these five forward-thinking local companies for our first-ever refill event as it gives us a chance to collectively educate and encourage new behaviours around reducing, reusing, and refilling.

“Waste is a very large problem for New Zealand that can’t be fixed with just one solution, so we have many different options for our customers to reduce, reuse, and recycle – and that order matters. Recycling is plan C, the one people should only turn to as the last option. Using our aluminium refill bottle at one of our refill stations will save up to 40 dish wash or 60 hand wash plastic bottles from entering Aotearoa’s waste system – that’s a huge win in our eyes.”

“We also shifted from fossil-based plastic to plastic made from a sustainable resource – sugarcane and incorporated post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic into our products. We have also provided refill stations to enable people to reuse bottles and introduced a closed-loop packaging return programme to take responsibility for our products at end-of-life. Now, we have launched reusable bottles made from aluminium to reduce plastic pollution and waste emissions.”

The average New Zealand household uses 941 plastic containers or bottles a year. This amounts to a staggering 1.76 billion pieces disposed of every year. Right now, 39 per cent of recyclable plastic in New Zealand goes directly to landfill and much of the 61 per cent that goes into the recycling system is sorted in New Zealand and sent overseas.

Ecostore’s aluminium bottles are also designed to look beautiful in the kitchen, featuring designs by New Zealand artist and long-time ecostore collaborator John Reynolds. With the same safer, plant and mineral based formulations on the inside, each aluminium bottle comes already refilled with Lemongrass Hand Wash or Lemon Dish Liquid.

Shoppers can refill their aluminium bottles at more than 100 ecostore refills station across New Zealand, in green stores, speciality grocery and some New World and Countdown supermarkets, online or by buying a refill pack sold in supermarkets.

For more information on the ecostore aluminium bottle, available for a strictly limited time in supermarkets, specialty grocery stores and online, visit https://ecostore.com/nz/limited-edition-refill-bottle/.

To find an ecostore refill station near you: https://ecostore.com/nz/storelocator/refill/. Product availability may vary from store to store so we recommend calling ahead first.

To find out an ecostore’s plastic return programme bottle drop location, please visit: https://recall.ecostore.com/bottle-drop.

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