It’s been waaay too long since I last posted, so here’s a quick update on our pilot in India that’s demonstrating an alternative to the plastic sachet…

India Plastic Pact recently did a review of reuse systems in India. It underlined the importance of reuse to prevent plastic waste and captured developments in the country so far.

It’s a good report and we were excited to learn that we’re one of just two companies providing refills in India selected for a case study, the other one being Refillable, which is doing some great work.

We understand that the report was submitted to the UN INC-4 conference in Ottawa as part of negotiations to implement a legally binding treaty to prevent plastic waste, which is pretty cool.

Our solution focuses on low-income communities and aims to provide an alternative to single dose plastic sachets, which are often the only way many people can afford products.

Unfortunately, sachets can’t be recycled. Many billions are used every year and they’re a major cause of ocean microplastic. Greenpeace estimates Unilever alone sells over 50 billion sachets, up 40% since 2010. If you want to read more about the sachet problem and the important role companies like Unilever play in selling them, have a look here The Guardian, Gaia, Bloomberg, Greenpeace....

On the project itself, we’re now working to expand our work so we prevent 1 million sachets a year and (with a bit of luck!) reach break-even too. More on this to come soon (promise!).

Meanwhile, here’s the India Plastic Pact case study…