How to make an eco friendly refillable jar for luxury cosmetics applications

Refillable solutions are invading the market. Firstly, they offer a valid experience to anyone interested in adopting a sustainable solution. Secondly, they build consumer loyalty and can build trust when well executed. And refill will become compulsory on the market following the latest European Green Deal that aims to put an end to wasteful packaging, boosting reuse and recycling.

Some may see it as a constraint, others as an opportunity. We see it as a challenge that pushes us to be inventive as we design beautiful packaging solutions.

Refillable beauty design principles

With DREAM design principles encompassing Distribution, Resources, End-of-Life, Awareness (communication) and Manufacturing, we focus on refilling or repurposing when it comes to reusable beauty. Materials and the whole packaging impact less on the environment, and the formula is always protected. Refills allow consumers to use a product as many times as they want. Our packaging is artfully crafted. Even if used only once (not refilled), it is still an eco-responsible option because it is made with durable materials that have a lower impact on the planet, and that are here to stay. The packaging becomes a keepsake object instead of a wasteful item. This conveys more value to the product in itself while reducing its environmental imprint.

Actually, an important aspect of the refill movement is its potential to reduce carbon footprint, by reusing the packaging multiple times, thus reducing the impact of a single unit. It’s also important to use low carbon materials, as well as recycled materials to further reduce the environmental impact.

At the end of life, after several uses, consumers can choose to repurpose it; the packaging itself calls for a second life. That’s how we design our refillable jars. They also come in a standard range, meaning that you don’t have to build it from scratch for your brand design, but you can just adapt the finishing touches to your branding guidelines, and requirements.

Not just a refillable jar

Thanks to our 85 years of background experience in the making of wood products, we offer sensory as well as efficient designs. When we designed our eco friendly refillable jar we thought about shapes, ease of use, manufacturability and versatility => which means flexibility to adapt to the needs of any brand. Yes, even in a standard version. Read on to understand how.

We’ve built a universal core, in other words, the refill pod is universal. 

The outer shell is instead absolutely flexible in design. The choice of material, shapes and manufacturing technology (3D printing, biomaterial moulding, wood machining for instance) give rise to a large number of customization options: the possibilities indeed are endless. One wouldn’t be able to differentiate one standard range from another.

Make a statement with wood

Another characteristic of our offering is the possibility to take wood design and finishing to the extreme. Wood conveys a very simple message: luxury and sustainability!

It’s also possible to be very creative in terms of shapes, as we master multiple axes and wood machining technologies. And we offer a number of finishes allowing you to make your own statement, either enhancing the natural wood grains or completely hiding them with special decoration options.

Last but not least, you can also use our own biocomposite material mBlack which comes from processed wood waste (biochar), hence decreasing your environmental footprint. We take biochar from our own production waste, making wood circular!

About the lid

The lid is made of wood and cork. The lid is based on the patented threaded wooden cap LegnaVis® and the customizable cork sealing disk. The cork disk is tested for formula compatibility and is food-grade. So the packaging is all safe to use in beauty products.

The eco friendly cosmetic jar is not the only version that is available in refill and in standard packaging from our range. Here you can explore our range. We’ll tell you in more detail about our other product belonging to the Silva line.