Everything you need to know about Eco Refills

In 2018, the European Union voted to ban single-use plastics by 2021 – a significant step in the right direction towards reducing the waste floating in our oceans. Currently, 91% of plastics we use aren't recycled, and many of them end up drifting out to sea. As well as destroying the glorious beauty of the world's pristine beaches and coral reefs, this also harms sea life. Animals can confuse brightly coloured plastic packaging for food or simply become entangled. Environmental awareness makes the switch to more eco-friendly packaging – for example, using a refillable soap dispenser instead of one you discard once empty – a natural choice. Find out how we're doing our bit to save the planet, from the olive-grove-studded fields of Provence to the deep blue oceans at L'Occitane, with our sustainable packaging and eco-friendly products. By 2025, our goal is that 100% of L'Occitane shops will offer our TerraCycle® recycling program (more detail on this below!) and 100% of our products will be made out of recycled plastic.

Offering refill products since 2008

Over the past decade, more companies have been reducing the amount of plastic they use, and we're proud to say that we've always been at the forefront of the movement. It's been 10 years since we launched our first eco refill – our Liquid Verbena Soap, enriched with softening shea butter and the delicately alluring lemon fragrance of verbena leaves. Today, we have 15 eco refills available, with plenty more planned.

Eco refills save the day

Last year, we were able to use 124 tonnes less plastic material thanks to our eco refills, an amount weighing more than a blue whale. This is also almost twice as heavy as a space shuttle – NASA's Endeavour weighed 71 tonnes. Each eco refill you purchase prevents the equivalent of roughly 50 plastic cups, 300 straws or 3,000 cotton buds from entering our oceans.

SAVING MONEY AS WELL AS THE ENVIRONMENT

Our eco refills are also cheaper to buy. For example, our verbena soap refill is 18,50 € for 500ml, while it costs 22 € to pick up the Verbena Shea Butter Liquid Soap with its refillable dispenser. This saves you 3,50 € on each purchase, so you'll keep your wallet happy and feel financially thifty as well as environmentally friendly.

SHOP REFILLS

Our small changes make a big difference

At L'Occitane, we treasure nature – from the nourishing properties of African shea butter to the uniquely relaxing fragrance of Provencal lavender. Preserving the environment is in our best interest and as such we've never used plastic bags, disposable cups or straws.

We can always do better, of course, so we're replacing our cellophane with a biodegradable version and will be using eco-spatulas for our in-store samples. We're also going to remove spatulas from each pack, to keep single-use plastic to a minimum.