Refill stations

The beauty refill stations by Beauty Kitchen encourage consumers to reuse existing jars of lotions, body washes and shampoos, to reduce the amount of waste created by discarded beauty packages.   

More than 95% of the packaging used in the beauty industry is discarded after a single-use, of which only 14% makes it to recycling centres. Even there, just 6% of the packaging gets recycled while the rest ends up in landfills. The waste in landfills is eventually buried deep or burnt, which ends up harming the environment.

Beauty Kitchen has set up refilling machines that consumers can use to refill existing jars with products like shampoos, conditioners, body and hand washes, and facial cleansers. Their goal is to set up 1,000 such machines across the UK, which will help save 100 million single-use bottles, that would otherwise end up in landfills. Major high streets, major cities, small towns, garden centres, university campuses, train stations and office complexes are likely to get these stations. 

The refill stations are touch screen operated and dispense reusable aluminium bottles to fill-in the products. They promote the concept of reusing the packaging instead of recycling. Consumers can drop off any empty bottles that have the Return • Refill • Repeat logo at any Holland & Barrett store in UK, Ireland, Belgium and The Netherlands, to receive free points on their loyalty card. These bottles will be washed and reused by Beauty Kitchen. Customers in UK can ship empty bottles to the company in a well-padded box by printing a free shipping label and dropping off the box at one of the nearest collect location.  

The company is a certified B Corporation, and is also Bunny Certified, which means that their products are not tested on animals.

Beauty Kitchen products are currently available in major beauty chains in the UK such as Boots, Sainsbury's, and Holland & Barrett stores. Their first refill station is located in Boots Covent Garden but the company is planning to install more around the country. The company has been nominated for The Sunday Times Style Beauty Awards 2020, as Champions of Sustainability.