Sylvie Metzelard, editor-in-chief of the magazine 60 Million consumers this month investigated cleaning products or hygiene and beauty products, which can be purchased in eco-refills. Be careful, be vigilant, they may prove to be neither economical nor ecological, concludes the monthly.
franceinfo: Have you found several products much more expensive, in the refill version, than in the original container, are the price differences significant?
Sylvie Metzelard: Yes, they can be considerable, up to 4.72 euros more per liter, for a shower gel, almost 1 euro difference for a hand dishwashing liquid, or the equivalent of 7 cents more for washing, for a laundry refill.
And all departments are affected?
This mainly concerns beauty and hygiene products and cleaning products, but they are now also found among food products.
But how can we explain such significant differences? Should it be cheaper though?
It is very difficult to explain it precisely. A refill containing less plastic requires less materials, and it is also lighter to transport, but the advantage of the price per ecorecharge is rare. The only company that agreed to answer us on this subject told us that certain refills could cost more to manufacture than simple cans, which we were not able to verify at all.
Does this mean that if we want the consumer to opt for these eco-refills, we have to lower the prices, even if it means making a smaller margin? Are the brands playing the game?
The brands that agreed to answer us on this point shift the blame onto the distributors, they say that they sell refills less expensively than the reference products. Which is plausible, because from one department store to another, you sometimes have very significant price differences, and even in stores of the same brand.
But yes, for consumers to take the plunge, they must see a real difference in cost, and the contents of the refills must also be exactly the same as the reference products.
If you go to the store and look closely, you will find that this is rarely the case. You have another perfume, in detergents, hygiene products, which leads you to think that the price difference comes from there. This is absolutely not normal!
So distributors do have room to maneuver in relation to the prices set by the brands?
Absolutely yes !
Reading your article we realize that it is absolutely necessary to read the labels carefully, because the devil really is in the details…
Yes, you should not hesitate to take out the calculator from your smartphone to calculate the price per kilo, or per liter, of the eco-recharge product, and compare it to the price per kilo of the reference product. You also have to be very careful with the same brand: you can have an interesting range to use for eco-recharge, and not at all for another.
When we listen to you, we really wonder if these eco-refills are really interesting, from an ecological point of view, is it worth the effort?
Undeniably, we save on plastic. It takes five times less, on average, for a recharge. So that’s a plus. On the other hand, in terms of recycling, this is not always the case, you must remember to put the refill in the bin or yellow bag, to be effectively recycled and especially that your refill is made of one and the same material .
If the cap is not of the same type for example, we generally do not know how to do it. And on the wallet side, it must be recognized that it is rarely advantageous.
What must also be said, and we know it less, is that these eco-refills have an economic interest for manufacturers?
Of course, you should know that manufacturers pay an eco-contribution for their products, depending on the weight of their plastic packaging. Paying for refills is therefore much cheaper than for cans.
However, manufacturers have bonuses for this. However, they are supposed to respect certain criteria such as identical contents in the cans and refills, and our investigation shows that this is not the case. Before granting these bonuses, certain checks should be necessary.
At present, theWas the refill system really virtuous?
Today, not yet really. What would be truly virtuous would be the generalization of bulk. You bring your containers, we slip the products inside. The environmental “plus” would then be very real and should allow lower prices.