Actual facts:

1. 60 billion pounds of plastic is thrown away every year – but only 13% is recycled. Furthermore, most communities recycle only PET plastic.
2. 35 billion plastic bottles are thrown away each year in the United States alone. That is 185 pounds of plastic bottles per American.
3. A typical bottle of a typical cleaning agent contains 90% water and just 10% other ingredients.

It takes a visionary to put these facts together and create something good out of it. And someone already has: Jason Foster, the founder of Replenish.

Replenish (click to visit)

Because we buy substances that are mostly water in correspondingly huge plastic bottles, we are essentially buying water and plastic. Not a very good way to use your money, isn’t it? Furthermore, the environment suffers with billions of pounds of wasted and unrecycled plastic, plastic that causes pollution and thus shows a great inefficiency in how we use our finite resources – materials and production energy.

Upon realizing this, a brilliant idea hit Foster. Why not design a simple but gamechanging system that could make things more efficient for both producer and consumer? The framework, also presented in three steps below:

1. We could simply add water at home to make the cleaning products we use everyday.
2. Companies could package in reusable bottles.
3. We pay only for what we need – thereby saving up.

Said framework would reap several benefits. Yep, you guessed it right, there are three of them too:

1. It makes work easy and simple.
2. As mentioned, it cuts down on costs and therefore saves money for everyone: the manufacturer, the retailer, and the consumer (which is us).
3. Plastic, energy, and pollution are reduced by 80-90% – that’s almost a complete minimization!

And that’s what Replenish has done, or seeks to do. Enter the Replenish Refill System.

Replenish (click to visit)

The System is a reusable bottle that comes in different forms as shown above. Now, what is that curious little implement at the bottom? That is the concentrate refill pod, where you squeeze cleaning agent concentrate into a built-in measuring cup (the bulbous part inside). Then, as they like saying in instant products, JUST ADD WATER!

To use the company’s trademark slogan, “Upside Down Changes Everything”.

Replenish is indeed a gamechanger and a social enterprise of dreams, as it looks to be a very promising leader in personal environmentalism. It’s mostly still US-based only as of now, but we do should take things one step at a time, and I am sure that it will eventually get to the point where many companies the world over make use of the Refill System. If I had a company that provides liquid cleaning products or the like, I definitely would avail of Replenish’s services!

If you’re a businessperson and you’d like to use the Replenish Refill System in your product line, Replenish would love to say hello by your emailing joinus@myreplenish.com. If you’re a consumer wishing to buy Replenish Refill System-supported products, visit CleanPath, a line of cleaners that is the first to use the System. It’s available only in Wal-Mart as of the time being, though.

It would be amazing if Replenish came to the Philippines and Human Nature used the Replenish Refill System. Hey, that sounds like an idea we could start now…

You may visit Replenish on www.myreplenish.com. If you’re interested in using their system for your business, email joinus@myreplenish.com.