For years, I only explored the food section of my local zero-waste shops, too fearful to look at the beauty products. However, the amount of packaging from the beauty products I produced a year ago made me look at the other side of zero-waste shops. At this stage of my long-term sustainability journey, I’m very concerned with packaging and intentionally seeking products without packaging. Buying packaging-free beauty products has helped me reduce packaging and save money. The downside is having fewer choices than traditional packaged beauty producers offer. Below, I’m comparing prices between high street brands and the zero-waste shop. I used two British brands, The Body Shop and Neal’s Yard. Both brands operate in the less-toxic cosmetics production sphere. I checked their prices on their websites on the 6th of June 2024; please remember that prices can fluctuate over time.
- At a zero-waste shop, I paid £8.18 for 207 g (from a 200 ml bottle) of hydrating toner. For 150 ml, The Body Shop sells tonic water in a plastic bottle for £22.00. Neal’s Yard 200 ml glass bottle of toner charges £19 or £22, depending on your choice.
- For 14 g of eye cream at a zero-waste shop, I paid £14.70. Neal’s Yard’s cheapest 15 g eye cream costs £26, packaged in a glass container. The Body Shop sells its cheapest eye cream for £14 for 15 ml, which comes in a plastic tube. The Body Shop’s cream is only slightly cheaper than the package-free product.
- 33 g of night cream costs £9.57 at the zero-waste shop. The cheapest night cream at Neal’s Yard costs £28 (glass container) for 50 g, and the Body Shop (plastic container) charges £18 for 50 g.
- The moisturiser cost me £10.92 for 42 g in the zero-waste shop. The cheapest Body Shop day cream was £18 (some Body Shop products come in glass containers), and Neal’s Yard (glass container) sold the cheapest day cream for £32 for 50 g.
Most likely, consumers will have easier access to Body Shop and Neal’s Yard products than to zero-waste shops. However, if you have the option to try zero-waste products, it’s worth considering. Most zero-waste shops I’ve been to have either containers for sale or ones you can use, donated by other customers (I always donate a ton of glass containers each year). Also, in some countries, it’s possible to send empty containers to companies for them to fill with their products. In my opinion, every single beauty retailer should offer this option.
Of course, we all have different beauty routines, budgets, and needs. I’m not saying the products from the zero-waste shop are the highest-quality I’ve ever used, because they are not. However, they are not the worst I’ve ever used; they come packaging-free, which means they cost less and have a smaller environmental impact. Not all of the products I use are packaging-free. However, I buy as much as possible in zero-waste shops. When I started my journey to eliminate excessive waste from my life, the prices were much higher than supermarket prices. Nevertheless, times have changed since my journey began a short three years ago. Even though prices in zero-waste shops have gone up, supermarket and product prices have gone through the roof. The price difference between package-free products and packaged products has narrowed, making it much more affordable to buy in zero-waste shops.
If you can afford products in glass packaging, buying them is better than buying those in plastic packaging. Even if it says “recycled plastic,” I try to avoid it as much as possible, as plastic recycling is resource-intensive and time-consuming. The process uses a lot of electricity and natural gas to heat the plastic, thereby sparking chemical reactions.
Since I live in London, UK, I’m writing from the perspective of someone in a big city with access to two well-stocked zero-waste shops. However, not everyone is in such a location. But if you can buy products in zero-waste shops, please try. Even if you replace one product, that action already makes a difference and signals to producers that customers want package-free choices. I can say that buying packaging-free is addictive, and the moment I started, I knew I wanted to do more, and each year, I go further. One day, we will live in a world where packaging is minimal rather than excessive as it is now. Companies are changing and adapting, driven by new regulations, but, in my opinion, the pace isn’t as fast as it should be. So, as consumers, we have the power to vote with our money.
Do let me know about your own zero-waste shopping experience where you live.
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