Spotted: The simplest way to reduce single-use plastic packaging is to not buy anything in it. Now, UK online grocer Dizzie has created a closed-loop delivery system that does away with the reams of harmful waste generated by most grocery shops. Pantry essentials and cleaning and personal care products are delivered in fossil fuel-free reusable pots. Shoppers can decant products into their own containers or use things directly from the Dizzie pot. Dizzie picks up the empties when the next order is delivered.

Design studio Blond makes the pots from used cooking oil and wood pulp waste from the paper-making process. Strong enough to be cleaned to the highest food safety standards more than 100 times, the pots are available in three sizes, with each size differing from the others by one-third to make measurement and storage easier.

Dizzie uses carbon-neutral delivery companies, and electric vehicles wherever possible. Shoppers can choose to pay delivery fees once a year, monthly, or as a one-off, depending on how frequently they buy from Dizzie. The company recently celebrated preventing more than one million pieces of plastic packaging from entering landfill by shoppers using refillable containers instead.

On-demand production combined with the refill approach to products helps companies keep waste to a bare minimum. Springwise has spotted a create-your-own soap brand that makes bars as orders come in, as well as a campaign encouraging Venetian tourists to ditch single-use plastic bottles of water in favour of refillable containers.

Written By: Keely Khoury