A deep dive into Solid’s Jar Return Programme

Solid has always had a jar return programme. In our opinion, glass is better than plastic, reuse is better than recycling and using jars again and again is best. In fact, if a jar is used at least 5 times, its emissions are reduced by a third compared to a single use jar or bottle (Zero Waste Europe, 2020).  

It’s also a huge part of our kaupapa, because it’s a tangible action.

When you drop off your jars to your local refiller, you are actively contributing to climate action

Once you have done it the first time, you tend to do it again and again. It becomes a habit. 

First off, it’s important to note that jar return is not the only waste and plastic reduction option we offer. Instore zero-waste refills, and refill packs in old fashioned NatureFlex cellophane are also part of our plan to get the waste out of toothpaste. This blog’s focus is on jar return. 

While we have always tracked the number of tubes we have diverted from landfill (50,000 to date!), our jar return data was less precise. So about 18 months ago we began recording how many jars were returned for reuse, and where they were from.   

So, in the week between Xmas and New Year and in between trips to the beach, spring cleaning and hanging out with the tamariki, we crunched the numbers between 1 July 2021 and 29 June 2022. This is a required part of our carbon reduction plan, but we also wanted to better understand our jar return programme and set some benchmarks. 

So, what did we find out?

Just over 15 percent of our jars are returned to us

Or more precisely, in the reporting period, 15.34 percent of the total number of jars sold were returned to us for sterilisation and reuse.  

Without really being able to find much data on how other businesses are doing, we thought this was pretty dang positive, and a good benchmark to improve on. 

There are three ways to return your jars to us. You can send them back to us via courier, you can return your jars directly to Solid HQ, or you can drop them off at one of our 31 participating retailers.  

More jars are returned to our stockists than through the post. About three times more. And drilling down even more, just under 50 percent of all jars returned to stores are returned to just two stores, Be Free in Palmerston North and Hopper in Wellington. This highlights what amazing kaupapa these two refill stores possess. 

Here’s what Francine from Hopper has to say about jar return:

Why do you think so many people return their jars to you? What do you do to let customers know that they can bring back their jars?

I think our customers really want the jars to be reused, the Solid card is a bonus which shows we appreciate the return of the jars especially with our regular customers. We make sure to tell everyone that they are able to return their jars and that always comes with an immediate positive reaction.  

Why do you do jar return?

We’re Hopper! In my ideal world it would be compulsory to refill all jars. I find it absolutely crazy that we buy products in jars that are only used once. But hey things are evolving and we are going to see more refill stations of all sorts in the future.. 

What do you think makes a successful jar return programme?

Communication with the customer, telling the story of Solid, committed team who cares, simplicity of the return programme.

What are we currently doing that works?

• We have amazing, engaged, customers who are more likely to return their jars.

• We got our stockists on board. They are key to making any jar return programme work, but it’s also a lot of work for them. To make this a little bit easier, we arrange and pay for all returns shipping.  

• Have a reward programme. People like making a difference, but its also nice to get a freebie! We have a coffee card style programme where you get a free toothpaste when you return 12 jars.  

• Tell people what we’re doing. We talk about return a lot because otherwise people don’t know they can do it! 

• Keep innovating. Our instore refill options (where people can have our powder, paste or tablets decanted into jars they already own) are growing. Our world first instore toothpaste dispensers (found in Good House Keeping, Bin Inn Petone, Be Free) get people excited and create more buzz than a little toothpaste company might realistically expect.   

So, what’s next? Our carbon reduction plan goes into A LOT more detail, but there are a few things we will do next based off this data. Because, for example, it shows us that since y’all take your jars back to shops (go you!), we should work on being stocked in more places and convince more existing stockists to get on board. 

We can consider more and better ways to promote our jar return programme, including when you’re shopping instore, and we can continue to grow and improve our instore refill options.  

It’s something we do because we believe in the kaupapa, not to save money

We always accounted for the fact that jar return would cost us money.

Our costs are: 

• Couriering back jars from wholesalers. A couple of times it has cost us $20 dollars to courier back 6 jars. We now ask shops to collect 30 before they send them back to us 😉

• Cost of free toothpaste.

• Time to administer. This is a big one. Recording how many jars are returned from what retailer. De-labelling, cleaning and sterilising the jars. It all adds up!

OK, if you’re still reading this, the pros and cons of a vertically integrated jar return programme might be as interesting to you as it is to us! If you’re doing jar return and are keen to learn together, let’s chat. 

Ideas to improve what we’re doing? Let us know. Most of all, mihi to everyone striving to make this work. For bringing back your jars and our retailers for promoting it. Climate action requires many people making small adjustments to their lives for the greater good, and our jar return programme is a great example of this. 

Just remembered you’ve got some jars to return? Go here 😉