Pump hand soap

[Millipedewithherfeetup]

Am getting fed up of always having to drain the last cm or so of hand soap bottles because the pump does not pull up/use all of the product. Has anyone found a way to use it all up ? Same with method washing up bottles...foundation pump bottles...body lotions...just everything really that I use regularly!

I try to buy refill packs, then you can refill the old bottle before it's quite empty.
Method do washing up refills, and Carex do hand soap. I don't mind if it's a different flavour, they don't tend to mix anyway, they just lie on top of each other.
A shop near us has an Ecover refill station where you bring your old bottle in to the shop to refill it.

Have tried the refill packs but they always seem to be larger than the original bottles which means storing half filled bags and they always seem to ooze out and make a mess and lots of product still sits in there so again not totally using it all. There must be something out there to overcome this waste

I don’t buy any pump bottles for precisely this reason. Can you swap to buying another product? Bar soap? I’m always reminded of a friend of mine who took a marketing course years ago and one question that was put to students was how to get people to voluntarily buy a square inch of plastic. Pump action products was the answer, from what I remember.

Bar soap is much cheaper and better for the environment than single use pump bottles of hand wash.

hand wash is usually very strong. I mix in some water, especially with the last dregs.
I mostly use bar soap because the handwash tends to make my hands sore.

Tubes of things are wasteful too. I cut open the tube of moisturiser when it is 'empty' and there is usually loads left.

I put a bit of water in the bottle and shake it, it lathers up really well and uses up the whole bottle of soap.

A bar of soap would solve your problem and save a shed load of plastic if everyone stopped using those pump soap things.

We switched to bar soap for environmental reasons a few years ago. I only have liquid soap in the kitchen and downstairs loo now (nowhere to keep bar soap)

We've switched back to bar soap. It's cheaper, and much less waste.
Currently still have pump soap in the kitchen as I haven't found anything to keep the bar of soap in that is easy access but stops it slipping into the sink all the time.
I use a foaming pump though and buy large refill packs of liquid soap.

Many pumps seem to purposely cut the pump stem very short so it can't reach the bottom layer of product, forcing you to buy another one sooner than you should.
Aveeno cream is a particularly good example of this: there is usually enough moisturiser in the bottom of the bottle for at least another week or maybe even fortnight. It's a criminal waste. I cut open the bottle, scrape it out with a spatula and put it into a jar.
Obviously that's not going to wrk with hand soap, but I wonder if you bought a different brand just once, or a purpose made refillable bottle from Ikea or Muji, it might have a longer stem and then you could refill / reuse that bottle in future.
Pumps are really bad for the environment because they are made of so many components that they can't easily be recycled, plus they often force you to use more product than you probably need.

I agree with previous posters, bar soap less wasteful and better for the environment. (When the bar soap reaches those last little bits you can get a special bag that you put all the small soap pieces in and wash with the lathering bag).

Just fill it with water!

I use bar soap upstairs but find pumps better in the kitchen and in the bathroom that the kids use. I bought a big refill bottle of handwash from Bio-D, a funnel and some amber glass bottles with pumps from Amazon. The bottle has lasted me about a year, and whilst still plastic, I am sure is less waste than the numerous bottles of handwash we would have gone through.

Cut and stick a straw to the bottom of the tube. I do it with household cleaners