Make-up Refils

Back in September, I did a mini-series of blog posts about Eco Make-up options. In my post about Mascara, I looked at the idea of re-fillable make-up to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Four months on and I have just run out of the mascara and brought my first refill for the Zao Bamboo Aloe Vera Mascara. I have to say I have been very impressed with this vegan certified mascara and it seems to have lasted well, using it every day. Its not been clumpy like others I’ve used and it doesn’t smudge. The suggestion is that it only lasts 6 months so 4 months seems fair.

The refill cartridge was less expensive than buying a new mascara at a reasonable £13.50. It is easy to clean the bamboo case and slot in the new cartridge. It does feel better to not have to throw away a perfectly good casing that is still usable, made to last.

It is a little frustrating that technology hasn’t moved on enough to be able to make the refill cartridges from something other than plastic. However, it is recyclable PET plastic. One of the issues with make-up bottles is that it is such small components and therefore if put in a recycling bin will often not be large enough to be picked out for recycling purposes, depending on where it goes. It is also difficult to reuse make-up bottles due to stringent measures around hygiene cross-contamination of micro particles.

I took the imitative to write to ZAO about this issue and had a helpful reply. Why not send clean bottles back to them where they can make sure it is correctly recycled? Or they suggested taking the bottle to the retail outlet you purchased from when they are open and they can make sure the recycling of them. It would be better if they offered this as some kind of free service they have advised this is something they are looking to trial in the UK after my suggestion and success in France from offering this. The cost of the stamp isn’t much and you can re-use the eco packaging from them if you have just purchased the refill if for now you want to send the empties back to them:

Zao Essence Of Nature UK Ltd
5 St Andrews Grove,
Luton,
Beds,
LU3 1FE

I have to say I have been very impressed with ZAO and confident that if there was a more sustainable low cost option for the plastic refills they will be looking into it. It is an area product development and I would rather be supporting a brand who is striving to do this. I’ll definitely be looking into more refillable options for make-up from them. For more ideas about makeup checkout my blog pages on Foundation, Eyeshadow, Double-ups and Brushes.