Dive Into Refills and Be Plastic-Free Dispenser
If you know Earth Harbor, then you know that we’re serious about pushing the envelope with our sustainability efforts. The next step for us was to develop refills and a 100% plastic-free option for our entire line!
What Do We Mean by Refills & Plastic-Free? And Why this Approach?
We’re constantly striving to make our products more earth and ocean friendly. We already use waste-free packaging that is upcycled and 100% reusable and recyclable, but we wanted to take our efforts a step further and offer two new zero-waste options: refills and a 100% plastic-free option.
Refills: Our refills are our Earth Harbor gems, sealed with aluminum tops and free of any plastics! Many other brands incorporate pouches as part of their refill programs. However, we’ve been crunching sustainability-focused numbers and our approach with glass bottles and aluminum tops has an even lower ecological footprint! Aluminum, like glass, is widely and easily recycled. Check out our refill tutorial below.
Be Plastic-Free Dispenser: We developed an innovative reusable glass dispenser (patent-pending!) for a 100% plastic-free option that’s never been done before. This easy-to-use, first-of-its-kind reusable + recyclable dispenser can be used with any of our line-wide refills to create a 100% plastic-free experience. With this option that replaces regular product tops, zero-waste just became more accessible. See our tutorial below.
Ways to Use — Refill Tutorial and Be Plastic-Free Dispenser Tutorial
Already have Earth Harbor products? Check out our Refill Tutorial.
- Simply thoroughly wash and dry the syringe from your former gem, like our ampoules, and reuse it with the refill gem after removing the aluminum top!
- Recycle the old glass bottle locally or through our our partnership with Pact Collective.
New to Earth Harbor or wanting to go 100% plastic-free? Be Plastic-Free Dispenser Tutorial
- Meet the Be Plastic-Free Dispenser, our innovative, reusable + recyclable glass dispenser for drawing out and dispensing our ampoules from refill bottles! This 100% plastic-free option is completely unique, but so simple and has never been done before.
The Problem and our Approach
According to the National Geographic, beauty products have increased by over 120 times since 1960. Additionally, packaging in the beauty industry adds up to 120 billion units of plastic waste annually, according to the Office of Sustainability at UCONN.
Unfortunately, approximately 91% of plastics that are recycled by the consumer don’t end up actually being recycled (according to the National Geographic), so taking steps to eliminate plastics has been a top priority for us! Our ecological footprint means so much more to us than profit alone.
EARTH HARBOR was born with the mission of creating highest-quality, ocean-friendly, self-care products that are beyond nontoxic, synthetic-free, and plant-based. Because clean beauty means a clean conscience, we believe in giving you products that are also ethical, sustainable, versatile, and scientific. Both you and our planet require this comprehensive approach for long term health and beauty.
Why We Care and Our Action Steps
We’re a grass-roots, family-run, indie-beauty brand that wants to take part in the climate solution for generations to come. Our Founder, Ali Perry-Hatch, MPH, grew up along the coast of Georgia, and she wants to make sure that her children (and your kids too!) can enjoy all that this planet has to offer, like the beautiful beaches of St. Simons, Georgia. As a certified health scientist and herbalist, our founder developed holistic phyto-technology to bring you customizable formulas that replace toxic synthetic ingredients with their safe botanical superiors.
Earth Harbor proudly partners with 1% for the Planet to dedicate all sales to protecting the world's oceans and solving the global water crisis. Additionally, we donate $1 for every product review left to a different water preservation organization every month, participate regularly in annual fundraising events for marine life and water preservation, and every season we adopt a new sea turtle as well as participate in our local beach cleanups.
See the rest of our sustainability commitments in our Sustainability Transparency Program.
Always Evolving and Forever Adaptable
We launched Refills in Beta because we will keep evolving our refill and plastic-free options. A next step is that we will move all of our gems with jars and tops (like our moisturizers and masks) to being produced entirely with metal tops once we move through our stock of upcycled plastic tops!
Versatility in our product line has always been a main factor in our gem design and formulation, and our products check many different boxes for ethically minded consumers. We know that our merbabes are unique and have varying preferences, so we want to keep Earth Harbor adaptable for you.
You can ease into our refill line by reusing your old product tops or dive right into the 100% plastic-free option with our Be Plastic-Free Dispenser. We designed refills and 100% plastic-free to seamlessly fit in with the rest of our product line and be completely customizable for you!
Sources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/whopping-91-percent-plastic-isnt-recycled/
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