Being Eco friendly question

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

Just want to preface this with I’m 100% aware that I’m no where near ready to start selling my soaps yet, I need at least another 8 months minimum experience. But, I do eventually want to do some local markets just for fun and hopefully get enough to repurchase materials to support my addiction. I also plan on delving into lotions, body butters and scrubs in the future. I was curious to know if anyone reused things like pump bottles or lotion jars (sterilizing before re-use) Something along the lines of bring back the empty container and get x% off your next purchase? I was thinking glass mason jars with the appropriate lids.

 

[soapmaker]

I get this question all the time from my customers. I use glass jars for heavier creams and will take returns on those because they're easy to sterilize, but pumps, no. I could spend all my time cleaning up other people's messes and sterilizing.

 

[justsomeguy]

I buy back labeled jars with lids. Trash everything else.

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

Thank you both, that makes perfect sense!!!!

 

[Maple_Street_Bath]

Re-using containers: It's a nope for me on a business standpoint. For personal use, I do it all the time with the exception of pumps.
What I tell my customers is if they have recycling to utilize that if they can't repurpose the containers.

I do have a few customers who have custom orders for lotions, leave-in conditioners type things that they requested a glass pump bottle and when they re-order I fill a large piping bag and heat seal the open end. Customer only has to snip the piping end and refill their glass bottle. It's not something I advertise that I do or do on a large scale - I have three customers who do this. I made it very clear that I am not responsible for any cross contamination and they were willing to accept the risks to reduce their plastic waste.

There is a "local" shop (it's two hours away) that is a bring-your-own-container refill station, but they offer a selection of re-purposed jars/bottles if customers don't have their own. I don't know how they keep those clean or sterilized as they are just sitting in an open box at a busy market. It makes me leery, so I've never tried any of their products, and darnit if I never remember to bring my own container.

 

[paradisi]

The risks would probably void your business and product liability insurance both.

 

[dibbles]

I would just add that I wouldn’t use glass, especially for scrubs, because of the chance of breaking. Creams and lotions might be okay, but scrubs make fingers slippery.

 

[justsomeguy]

The risks would probably void your business and product liability insurance both.

I don't resell them. I run them through the dishwasher then use them to hold test concoctions

 

[paradisi]

I don't resell them. I run them through the dishwasher then use them to hold test concoctions

The contamination risks still pertain. Your health & safety are important too, no?

 

[justsomeguy]

The contamination risks still pertain. Your health & safety are important too, no?

My dishwasher has a sanitize setting. Nothing survives it. And I do use a optiphen plus preservative in my body care products

 

[HippieDippie]

Live this thread.

I was under the impression that you could run grain neutral spirits through a pump (or high percentage isopropyl alcohol) in order to sanitize it.

Anyone else heard of this?

 

[Barefoot Farm Girl]

I would just add that I wouldn’t use glass, especially for scrubs, because of the chance of breaking. Creams and lotions might be okay, but scrubs make fingers slippery.

I never thought of that! Excellent point!

My dishwasher has a sanitize setting. Nothing survives it. And I do use a optiphen plus preservative in my body care products

This was my train of thought, good sanitize and possibly some alcohol to kill any missed nastys. If a test batch doesn’t go all ick in a reused container wouldn’t that increase the odds that it’s a good formulation?

 

[justsomeguy]

This was my train of thought, good sanitize and possibly some alcohol to kill any missed nastys. If a test batch doesn’t go all ick in a reused container wouldn’t that increase the odds that it’s a good formulation?

Yeah. But one of my tests is to leave a sample open in the kitchen. Optiphen+ is awesome with that