What refillable products do you buy in bulk? 29 May 2020 at 4:03PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 12 replies 382 views

CompKB

To cut down on my plastic waste and save a bit of money I've been buying shampoo, condition and body wash in 5 Litre bottles, from Faith In Nature, to refill my glass dispenser jars.
Im currently looking for body lotion to do the same.
What refills do you buy in bulk?

NigeWick

CompKB said:

I've been buying shampoo, condition and body wash in 5 Litre bottles, from Faith In Nature, to refill my glass dispenser jars.

You consider £11 per litre good value?

CompKB

NigeWick said:

CompKB said:

I've been buying shampoo, condition and body wash in 5 Litre bottles, from Faith In Nature, to refill my glass dispenser jars.

You consider £11 per litre good value?

I do when I can get fragrance free and know its good for the environment and ethical.
I bought faith in nature before I was bulk buying, as its the only shampoo and bodywash that doesn't give me an allergic reaction. So its great value for me
But feel free to input your suggestions.

CompKB

Mickey666 said:

I buy petrol and diesel in bulk.

As for expensive 'environmentally friendly' products, do you think about the full implications of them being so expensive?  Being only affordable by those fortunate to be able to aford them, usually by living in the richer nations which have higher standards of living and consequently a larger 'eco-footprint'.  Sustainability is all very laudable but it's a bit like being pregnant - it's all or nothing.  You can't be a little bit sustainable . . . all that does is delay the inevitable.

I don't mean to be overly pessimistic, but buying your body wash in refillable 5 litre bottles isn't going to save the planet.

Did I say it was going to save the planet? Or that its the only thing I am doing to be environmentally friendly? What a bizarre response, especially when you have NO idea what else I'm doing. And your comparison to being pregnant is also very confusing, what do you mean?
Let me get this straight, please feel free to correct me. What your saying is, because some people can't afford to buy expensive environmentally friendly products, I should buy cheaper non-environmentally friendly products?

CompKB

Mickey666 said:

You're the one who first mentioned 'being good for the environment', I was merely extrapolating.  I also have a pretty good idea about your lifestyle and it's impact on 'the environment', simply because you live in a first world country with an extraordinarily high standard of living compared to the majority of humanity, the cost of which is unsustainable in ecological terms.  I'm not blaming you personally of course, we're ALL guilty.  And what too many are guilty of is believing we can help by being a little bit more sustainable.  Well we can't - we (humanity) are either sustainable or we're not.  Just like being pregnant.

As for your body lotion, buy whatever you want, however you want.  It's not going to save the planet either way.

If you believe all that, why are you on the "Green and ethical" section of the forum.

Nonnadiluca

In September 2017, I know because I wrote the date on the bottle, I got a 5 litre clear and simple shampoo from Suma; still about 1/4 of the bottle left, ( there's 2 of us). I I did the same with conditioner, although it's just me using that, also Ecover washing up liquid from our local country store , which works out at just under£1 per 500ml. It's very economical and instead of having 20 X 250ml bottles to dispose of, for example, OH uses the 5 ltr bottles to hold home made comfrey plant food so the bottles will hopefully be used for years.  A friend gets me a huge tub of organic coconut oil from Costco for about £12 something, and I decant it into a smaller jar and use that as body moisturiser.

silverwhistle

Mickey666 said:

That's a peculiar point to make.  If there was a 'flat-earth' section of the forum would you question why someone who doesn't believe should post on it?

Besides, I have no idea what section of the forum this is.  I click on 'New Posts' and answer whatever catches my eye.  Is that not allowed?

Anyway, you've nicely avoided my point

Well, you've nicely avoided their question, which I shall repeat: "What refills do you buy in bulk?". You are allowed to post on any thread, but yours wasn't helpful in any way.

Anyway, thanks Nonna for your reply. Personally I don't buy anything in bulk apart from yeast, where a couple of years ago I bought 3 half kilo tins of dried yeast. I'll shortly be moving on to the last. I've had real problems recently getting decent bread flour though!

CompKB

Nonnadiluca said:

In September 2017, I know because I wrote the date on the bottle, I got a 5 litre clear and simple shampoo from Suma; still about 1/4 of the bottle left, ( there's 2 of us). I I did the same with conditioner, although it's just me using that, also Ecover washing up liquid from our local country store , which works out at just under£1 per 500ml. It's very economical and instead of having 20 X 250ml bottles to dispose of, for example, OH uses the 5 ltr bottles to hold home made comfrey plant food so the bottles will hopefully be used for years.  A friend gets me a huge tub of organic coconut oil from Costco for about £12 something, and I decant it into a smaller jar and use that as body moisturiser.

Thank you! Definitely going to check out ecover!

silverwhistle

Most of us buy petrol/diesel in 20/30/40 litre quantities. Do you consider that bulk? Or are you just confirming my original opinion of you?

Katiehound

This isn't buying in bulk but it seems to have green credentials and not too expensive by the looks if things: You buy refillable bottles and then sachets of refills. Send the empty sachets back ( free postage) for recycling.

I have only just discovered the company from an article in Good Housekeeping magazine- so can't comment on the goodies. And needless to say every person who tries to do 'their bit' is better than no one!
https://www.splosh.com/how-it-works

Pile_o_stone

CompKB said:

Mickey666 said:

You're the one who first mentioned 'being good for the environment', I was merely extrapolating.  I also have a pretty good idea about your lifestyle and it's impact on 'the environment', simply because you live in a first world country with an extraordinarily high standard of living compared to the majority of humanity, the cost of which is unsustainable in ecological terms.  I'm not blaming you personally of course, we're ALL guilty.  And what too many are guilty of is believing we can help by being a little bit more sustainable.  Well we can't - we (humanity) are either sustainable or we're not.  Just like being pregnant.

As for your body lotion, buy whatever you want, however you want.  It's not going to save the planet either way.

If you believe all that, why are you on the "Green and ethical" section of the forum.

We seem to be attracting some people who want to just argue. I'm guessing it's because their "Argue about House Prices" forum has been shut down and the regulars from that forum are looking for a new abode. I'd advise just ignoring them and they'll attention-seek elsewhere.

I used to travel a lot and noticed how much plastic was in my washbag and at the (nicer) hotels with the tiny plastic shower, shampoo, body lotion bottles. I replaced it all with non-plastic products.

For example,  I now have a safety razor that takes razor blades, a shaving brush, shaving soap and a soap dish with a bar of soap.  All very money savings too because I get 100 razorblades for a tenner and each one lasts for about 6 shaves (so 600 shaves for £10). When I've used the blade I put into a blade bank (a metal box that has a piggy bank slot at the top) and when that's full it'll go into the metal recycling. 

These are the blades I use: https://www.themodernman.co.uk/astra-superior-platinum-double-edge-razor-blades-100-blades.html