The cosmetics brand now sells refills for its liquid products, and makes a lot of noise about it. The online campaign touches customers the right way, using for example mottos such as "Fill & Feel Better", "Fill your bottle, not your bin" or "It"s good to fill right". There was no way also to miss the bright yellow windows and the message "Gemeinsam fur Nachhaltigkeit - Together for Sustainability".
I am pleased always to showcase sustainable initiatives of brands especially if they have strong visibility among customers (especially thanks to the the shop's physical location in town, directly at the entrance of Metalli, Zug's central shopping center) and can possibly influence them to change their habits.
Here, reducing packaging is a great plus, especially as the plastic containers of L'Occitane cannot be recycled. However...I can only grind my teeth at the campaign (I am not a partypooper for no reason).
The brand is also famous for its travel pouches and small-size samples of bottles and creams, with a few seasonal, limited editions launched each year. And as the best Devil's advocate, I have looked at the products at home myself, as they have served as great presents to relatives and friends over time. And one thing has been clear and unfortunate: the smallest bottles in these travel kits cannot be refilled. I tried, almost destroyed a screwdriver, and failed, meaning that the bottles end up directly in the bin. The bigger ones fortunately can be refilled, but I do fear that their small size makes it still too easy to discard (on the other hand, refills are great for instance for hand soap or laundry detergent containers, we are already using them at home).
The online campaign also invites people to try the new refill and receive a special discount if you associate the refills with...travel bottles that cannot be recycled (yes, fair enough they can be re-filled and re-used...).
Anyway, a small step is better than no step at all. Let's hope that the campaign is successful, that produced packaging used by L'Occitane and generated waste are reduced as hoped and declared, and that customers will change their habits accordingly.