In the last few years, there has been a lot of buzz in the beauty industry around designing packaging with refills. From a sustainability perspective, refillable packaging can offer significant waste reduction in an industry that’s notorious for producing staggering volumes of largely unrecyclable waste.However, there’s another model that may have the potential to have an even larger impact in terms of waste reduction and carbon footprint than at-home refillables—returnable packaging. Although the idea of returnable packaging seems novel today, it’s actually a system that was common before the widespread prevalence of plastic and disposable packaging.Refills vs. ReturnsFirst off, let’s explain the terms we’re using to avoid any confusion. When we talk about refillable packaging, we are referring to a system where the consumer purchases a refillable vessel, and can either purchase packaged refills to refill the vessel at home, or can visit a bulk retailer to refill the vessel at the store.Returnable packaging, on the other hand, refers to a system where the consumer purchases a package and upon emptying, returns the package to be sanitized and refilled for another customer to purchase. In this kind of model, the brand maintains ownership of the package, and the consumer is essentially borrowing or renting it to store and use a product. Returnable Packaging in Personal CareSo how would this work in a personal care product? Let’s follow along with the life cycle of a fictional shampoo bottle below.