To wonder why isn't everything offered as a refill?

[whatthewhatthewhat]

So, why aren't supermarkets changing to big vats of product - especially shampoo, washing liquid, etc. You bring back a container, and you can refill cheaper. No container? Then you buy one for more money!

Seems so simple, why aren't they doing this?

Because quite frankly, setting a scheme like that up takes time, money and effort. It's making new logistics, new machines to make the refil system and new ways to deliver them.

Might be in the works but can't just appear instantly.

It's also to do with quality control. If you bring in your own bottle which you didn't wash properly (i.e. sterilise) and you fill it with something that goes mouldy after a short while, you will complain. Hard to prove whether the product or your packaging was at fault; this happening often impacts the business' reputation.
It would be messy too. Imagine walking through a shop on a rainy day (=wet feet) when someone's just accidentally dumped a bit of shampoo on the ground.
Also many people still struggle to remember shopping bags, let alone empty bottles for the stuff they want to put in them.

Waitrose have been trialling refill stations of various things. If it works then they’ll expand it.

Some places are doing it www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/britains-best-zero-waste-shops-find/

Remember body shop did it. Should be ok with same things being refilled

At major supermarkets there is the issue of stripping away brands imo - people will pay more for ketchup that says Heinz, a fizzy drink that says Coca-Cola, washing liquid called Fairy, a shampoo that says Aussie Rules etc, and the packaging is a big part of the brand. Take that away and suddenly cheaper own-label stuff sometimes made in the same factory starts to look more appealing. And big brands won't like that.

Hair, not Rules!

Wow! I was discussing this very idea with my partner this evening. Like the days when you took your empty pop bottles to the shop... you got 10p back on each one
The idea has legs, just needs someone to run with it!

I think a lot of it is hygiene-based - we’ve become so accustomed to everything being safe and healthy we’ve forgotten how much research and development went into achieving that. Bottled water, for instance, took a breakthrough to be able to achieve without harbouring dangerous bacteria in storage. In a large vat (of whatever product) this would be hard to replicate, and then you add badly-washed home containers, and the scheme becomes a health (and lawsuit) nightmare.

Because disposable culture is more profitable - but oh at what cost.

This will never happen on a large scale because the brands couldn't make sufficient money from it.

There’s a refill shop near me. I get fabric conditioner and soap from there as well as solid shampoo and conditioner. It does take effort though - remembering to keep the containers and remembering to weigh them, and the shop runs odd hours because the owners do it in their spare time. It’s also messy - I’ve yet to manage to fill a bottle of fabric conditioner without getting it all over my hands but within the 6 weeks or so I’ve been going there I must have saved a fair few plastic bottles being produced and thrown away (I do recycle but plastic is hard to fully recycle so I assume some ends up in landfill).
They also sell dried goods like lentils, nuts, fruit and spices. I think some supermarkets let you take your own containers to the deli counters now as well?

The thing that annoys me is cleaning products in trigger spray bottles which are hard to recycle as they contain metal and different types of plastic. They could sell refills for those very easily without any hygiene problems.

@OMGshefoundmeout

CIF are starting to make the spray bottles reusable. I'd guess, alongvwith being smaller, therexare less mixed materials in the refill box.