Refill, reuse and reduce in South and Southeast Asia - Packaging South Asia (2025)

It has come a full circle. Some readers may remember how in the ‘70s, ‘80s or even the ‘90s, we would take an empty bottle to the grocery shop to refill it with mustard oil. Most households would have separate refill bottles, containers or cans for commodities such as kerosene, milk or ghee. These practices were common till cooking gas connections and the packaging revolution changed our food consumption habits.

However, amid concerns over plastic packaging pollution and the search for sustainable alternatives, refillable solutions seem to be gaining ground again – be it in food, personal care or homecare solutions.

Unilever’s refill initiative

Multinational consumer packaged goods company Unilever, for example, says it is running refill pilot projects globally, including in Asian countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — seeking ways to reduce virgin plastic use and tackle plastic sachet, pouches and container waste.

Unilever says it has run more than 50 refill and reuse pilot projects since 2018, which are helping to shape its strategies to reduce single-use plastic packaging. The British company, it may be mentioned, was under fire last year for scaling back its sustainability targets.
In Indonesia, Unilever piloted a refill machine in 2020, selling home and personal care brands such as Dove, Rinso and TRESemmé, in a packaging-free store in Jakarta. Two digital machines were introduced in an apartment building and a general trade kiosk. As on date, Unilever says it serves an estimated 6,000 customers at 1,000 refill stations, saving approximately six tons of plastic per year.

Similarly, in Sri Lanka in 2019, Unilever installed two large high-tech refill machines in modern trade outlets, working with sustainable technology provider Vega Innovations. Each machine offered pre-set amounts or fixed doses of personal and home care products, from brands such as Dove, Sunlight and Sunsilk. Subsequently, the machines were redesigned to allow consumers to choose the exact amount they wanted to purchase.

In Bangladesh, Unilever tested self-service refill machines in modern trade stores in 2021. However, servicing and maintenance became an issue. A year later, the company created a user-friendly machine that dispensed multiple products including Sunsilk, Dove and Lifebuoy, in varying amounts. Approximately 43% of the machine’s users are now returning customers, the company says.

Among other products, Unilever’s detergent brand OMO came up with a 6x concentrated formula designed to be poured into a standard 3-liter bottle. The product, a hit with consumers in Brazil, was launched in South American countries, the Middle East and Europe. The packaging uses 70% less plastic, is fully recyclable and contains 50% recycled plastic.

“We need bold innovations that challenge existing designs, materials and business models. Our priority is to fundamentally rethink our approach and pave the way for new solutions such as reusable and refillable formats,” Richard Slater, chief R&D Officer, Unilever, says.

Other brands join in

Many other companies have come up with reusable and refillable solutions – small but crucial steps on the road to reducing plastic use.

Mondi, a specialist in sustainable packaging and paper, for example, has collaborated with Sherwin-Williams, a global leader in paints and coatings, to introduce a recycled spouted pouch as a refill option for its concentrated paint, sold in the UK market. The paint concentrate has been developed to replace the traditional 5-liter pre-mixed paint in rigid plastic tubs. The company says it encourages consumers to reuse these tubs to mix the paint concentrate and then recycle the refill pouch.

Food major Heinz has introduced a ketchup dispenser, a joint effort with npk design and the AMS Group, for use in restaurants and food joints. It includes a completely new pump that can be quickly disassembled, cleaned in the dishwasher, and easily reassembled into a sealed system.

The dispenser cartridge, which was among the 50 finalists of Packaging Europe’s 2024 Sustainability Awards, contains a sauce pouch. By using large pouches instead of small sachets, single-use plastic waste can be significantly reduced, the company says.

In mid-2022, Godrej Consumer Products launched a ready-to-mix body wash in order to penetrate the body wash category in India. The Godrej Magic Bodywash was made available as a single gel sachet and as a combi-pack consisting of a refillable bottle and the gel sachet.

In Switzerland, FMCG giant Nestlé tried out reusable and refillable dispensers for petcare and soluble coffee as part of its efforts to reduce single-use packaging.

Unilever was, however, smart enough to add a rider, saying such alternative reusable packaging models require commitment across every level of the supply chain, from manufacturers and retailers to the waste management industry and governments. Clearly enough, such pilots are a drop in the ocean and not enough to meet sustainability targets, However, these are small but crucial steps in the long road to sustainability.