Every Friday I will have special posts that point out products or situations that frustrate me in my quest to go plastic-free. Many of these posts will be about products that use greenwashing–trying to look like sustainable, plastic-saving products but actually still using plastic, or trying to frame their plastic use in a misleading way.
I actually love the idea of refilling bottles with concentrated product. There are some soap and body wash refills that I will be reviewing soon. But I find the Dove refill system particularly frustrating because there were so many elements that they could make plastic-free but they do not. Here is a list of my frustrations about the Dove refill system:
- Dove offers two options for a refillable bottle. One is Aluminum (infinitely recyclable-yay!) and one is recycled plastic (boo!). Is recycled plastic better than virgin plastic? Of course. But ultimately that bottle will still end up in the landfill.
- The starter pack comes with the refillable bottle that is empty. In order to fill that bottle with body wash you need to use the plastic refill pack. So right from the start, you are using plastic, even if you bought the aluminum refillable bottle.
- The biggest problem is that the refills come in plastic. Yes, they use less plastic because they are concentrated. But less plastic is still plastic that will end up in a landfill. Here is how Dove explains the benefit:
- “Once you’ve finished two concentrate refills with our aluminum reusable bottle, or four with the 100% recycled plastic bottle, you’ll be using 50% less plastic compared to standard Dove body wash.”
- Other brands of refillable soap come with concentrated TABLETS that do not need to be packaged in plastic.
The best plastic switch for body wash is not a refillable plastic bottle marketed as a plastic solution. Instead, use bar soap. There are many great bar soap options out there that have no packaging at all. Don’t pick the half as**d solution!