Latest news with #refill
Associated Press
16-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
South African startup Sonke collaborates with Unilever, the UK Government & EY to drive circular economy through refill
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, June 16, 2025 / / -- Sonke, a South African tech startup, has launched its first automated refill store – SKUBU – in Johannesburg, advancing its mission to revolutionise FMCG consumption in underserved communities by making essential goods more affordable and reducing single-use plastic waste. According to an IUCN study, South Africa contributes around 35% of plastic pollution leaking into waterways and the marine environment in Southern and East Africa. The issue is posing an increasing threat to people's health and livelihoods, as well as biodiversity. In collaboration with TRANSFORM, an impact accelerator led by Unilever, the UK Government's Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and EY, Sonke is using the new store to test the viability of the refill model and promote consumer behavioural change. In addition to funding and in-kind business support, TRANSFORM has facilitated the enterprise's integration into Unilever's value chain. Sonke's refill store is dispensing products from Unilever brands including Sunlight and Handy Andy. Customers can refill their own containers at bulk prices, eliminating single-use packaging and providing shoppers with cost savings of up to 60%. Trained SKUBU ambassadors will be on site to guide shoppers through the process and assist with using the refill machines. The SKUBU store is also equipped with Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled technology, which allows live sales tracking, automated replenishment alerts, and real-time stock monitoring; ultimately, helping retailers to more efficiently respond to customer demand for essential goods. By removing barriers and making refill convenient and approachable, Sonke aims to inspire a shift toward more sustainable consumption habits, normalising the refill culture in local communities. Eben de Jongh, Founder and Managing Director at Sonke, said: 'For a refill model to scale, it must be accessible, affordable and responsive to the communities they serve. Our collaboration with TRANSFORM in launching SKUBU is critical in our journey to reach this goal. By combining technology with onsite support from our ambassadors, we are able to respond to consumer needs in real time, building a refill model that is approachable and fits into everyday life.' Angela Kow, TRANSFORM Plastics Lead at Unilever, said: 'Not only is Sonke's store opening a major milestone for the enterprise, but it is also an important step for TRANSFORM. We're proud to help pioneering enterprises like Sonke scale refillable packaging models. To do this, we need continued cross-industry collaboration and investment in inclusive infrastructure to help these enterprises thrive.' The first SKUBU is located at Entrance 1 of Chuma Mall in Diepsloot, Johannesburg. The launch of Sonke's SKUBU store is part of TRANSFORM's wider effort to support enterprises tackling plastic waste. By combining grant funding, business insight, practical experience, resources and networks, TRANSFORM funds and supports a range of enterprises to develop refill business models in Africa and Asia. ### About TRANSFORM • TRANSFORM is an impact accelerator that unites corporates, donors, investors and academics to support visionary enterprises. Together, we test and scale new market-based solutions that build inclusive, sustainable economies, empower marginalised communities, and drive climate-resilient growth. • We combine grant funding, business insight, practical experience, resources and networks. Our tailored approach creates evidence that we share widely to help leaders across the world solve global challenges. • The launch of Sonke's SKUBU store is part of TRANSFORM's wider effort to support enterprises tackling plastic waste. We have funded and supported a range of enterprises, including Alner, Bopinc, Novek, Refillable and Smartfill, to develop refill business models in Africa and Asia. • Established in 2015 and led by Unilever, the UK's Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and EY, TRANSFORM is based on a desire to address urgent issues by learning from each other. We TRANSFORM lives by tackling global challenges through life-changing enterprise. • Globally, TRANSFORM has supported 140+ enterprise projects across 19 countries and has reached over 18 million lives. For more information on TRANSFORM, visit: Will Kirk Forster Communications email us here Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Forbes
16-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Beauty ROI Is Driven By Social Conscience And Sustainability
When it comes to their beauty brand of choice, Gen Z especially favors a value driven approach but you'd better make sure it's authentic or they'll spot it a mile off. Timed to coincide with World Refill Day on 16 June, L'Oréal Group is launching multi-brand campaign #JoinTheRefillMovement to educate customers on available refill options and encourage their adoption. Participating brands include Lancôme, YSL Beauty, Prada, and Kérastase. According to the Group, while 78% of consumers express interest in buying more sustainable products, many still remain unaware of such options and their lower environmental imprint. Refilling YSL Beauty's recently launched Libre L'Eau Nue for example, reduces glass use by 50% says International Sustainability and Scientific Director Caroline Nègre. 'That's a huge impact.' As her title might suggest, sustainability figures highly in her remit. A decade ago in 2014, she was instrumental in initiating her brand's flagship botanical project, the Ourika Community Gardens in the foothills of Morocco's Atlas Mountains. Its genesis, she says, came out of a research trip to the Ourika Valley to source saffron for a skincare range. She learned that the threads were handpicked by women during just two weeks a year so the initial objective was to give them more work to increase their revenue and afford them financial independence. Having consulted with local NGOs, her team began looking for plots of land to create new supply chains. Construction began on the two hectare Ourika Community Gardens themselves in 2019. Today, Nègre describes it as a laboratory, 'an emblematic place for the whole program that happens in the Ourika Valley.' In addition to more immediate employment for the local community, the Gardens provide wider communities with cuttings from which to cultivate crops they can sell back to the brand. "It's a place of inspiration, of creation and of experimentation that combines cultivation, botanical research and, of course, human empowerment,' she says. 'When you give trees to a village that's huge. it means money, food and independence.' The Ourika Community Gardens are now home to some 300 species including iris, jasmine, cacti, pomegranate and figs. All the brand's axes—fragrance, make-up and skincare from the Loveshine lipsticks to All Hours foundations—contain at least one ingredient from the Gardens. This amounts to over 35 million products. Speaking to the laboratory aspect, Négre explains how the learnings generated are also pushing the business forward both in terms of sustainable practice and science. The Gardens' specific microclimate enables them to foster a variety of different species. 'We can grow plants and see how they react to the environment, do a pilot, a small production and once it's validated and proven efficient we can scale it to the other communities,' she says. 'We apply regenerative techniques, planting one thing for one season to nourish the soil or mixing different species where one benefits the other if its roots retain water for example. We look at the impact and then we can share the results with the other programs.' The stress to the plants from the extreme environmental conditions afforded by the microclimate also causes them to produce particular molecules to defend themselves, she adds. 'These make for a stronger concentration of the components we need for our active ingredients.' When it comes to scent creation, the brand's master perfumers like IFF's Carlos Benaim behind YSL Beauty's Libre franchise, apply 'headspace" extraction technology on site to capture fragrance molecules like those from jasmine which can differ according to the time of day or tuberose which blooms only at night. Such technology was integral to the creation of Libre L'Eau Nue, YSL Beauty's first oil-based and alcohol-free perfume. According to Benaim, alcohol enhances diffusion so in its absence, he needed to enhance the heart note of orange blossom 'to get that burst of fragrance.' Headspace extraction allows for the analysis and isolation of specific molecules so they can be dialled up or down accordingly. YSL Beauty global ambassador and Gen Z favorite Dua Lipa who has long been the face of the Libre fragrance franchise also stars in the campaign for L'Eau Nue. The Gen Z beauty marketplace is a competitive one, successfully courted by e.l.f. beauty and Hailey Bieber's Rhode which it recently acquired so there's everything to play for. While Nèvre acknowledges that the beauty consumer, and Gen Z in particular is looking for brands whose values resonate with their own, she emphasises that concerns with women's empowerment (most recently exemplified in their Abuse Is Not Love campaign) and sustainability were already deeply infused in the brand" long before the start of the Ourika Gardens journey. Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent, founder of sister brand Saint Laurent, created Le Smoking, a female take on the Tuxedo in 1966, affording women the same freedom of movement previously reserved for men. YSL Beauty has evolved this heritage applying such values to the world of beauty.
