Swappit clean keep plastic from the landfill
Add article to favourites
David filling a bottle up at swappit's refill station
Today my guest post is from Ingrid, who set up Swappit Clean!
David is MD of a large agricultural business and always on the lookout for the greener option. Ingrid has a background in IT and design with an interest in environmental issues. Together, they created Swappit Clean because they were concerned about the amount of plastic ending up in landfill.
Ingrid is here to tell us all about the products and bottle refill services they offer.
Plastic waste
We all know we are producing too much plastic waste, we are slowly poisoning the planet, the seas and the fish we eat.
Recycling only goes so far to resolve the problem. It takes a large amount of resources to collect the bottles, and process them. The sad fact is that the lids, and some bottles, cannot be recycled. We are producing over 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste in the UK each year, this is growing all the time.
The statistics are, 85% is sent to landfills, 8% is incinerated and 7% is recycled.
Plastic recycling
The truth is that even though the average house hold may strive to sort out their bottles, wash them, remove the lids and put them out in recycling bins on the right day, businesses do not have the time to be so vigilant. Many large businesses have to bin their plastic waste and then pay to have it taken away.
The question is, what can we do about this mess? That bottle has to be paid for. The bottles that are thrown away every day, many of them hardly used, have a value. However, their lives aren’t over when they are placed in the bin. They continue to live, in a landfill, for 450 – 1000 years. What a durable item!
Why don’t we give them a chance to live longer more useful lives?
Reuse of plastic
At Swappit Clean we make full use of every bottle.
We give individuals and businesses the opportunity to save their bottles and save some money. Our wholesale prices are unbelievable. If a company that, produces a lot of plastic waste, rings us up, we go and collect their empty bottles, refill them, label them and return them.
When the company is ready for a refill, we pick up their empties again and drop off full bottles. This completely ends their cycle of plastic waste.
Plastic refills
All our products are made in the UK, we buy in bulk containers that are sent back to be refilled, so we do not produce plastic waste either.
We are open to the public Thursday, Friday and Saturday at:
8 Fairland St,
Wymondham,
Norfolk
NR18 0AW.
The public can buy any amount at great prices. We are much cheaper than the supermarkets for a similar quality product.
Environmentally safe products
We aim to only provide products that are biodegradable, phosphate free and paraben free. They are environmentally sound but still do the job.
At the moment, apart from the public, we supply offices, restaurants, cleaning companies, hairdressers and truck companies. In the short time we have been operating we have saved vast quantities of plastic from going into landfill.
We offer a wide range of products from laundry products, liquid soap and shampoo, multipurpose cleaners, washing up liquid and many more. You can find out more about us at Swappit Clean!
Why pay for the bottle if you don’t have to. You can cut costs and cut plastic waste It’s a win, win situation!
Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:
Don’t throw it away… That's rubbish, just throw it away ... How many times have you heard that or said…
Zero Waste Week 2013 Welcome to the sixth National Zero Waste Week! National Zero Waste Week takes place week beginning…
Contact Due to a high volume of emails, we have created an FAQs page. Please read through…
Ditch the disposables! Lower landfill waste by using reusable products instead of single use, disposable items.
Household cleaners packaging Have you cleaned your house recently? How many different products did you use? When you go…
Hi Mrs Green,
Swappit Clean are following in the footsteps of Ecover with their refillable systems, aining at business users as well as consumers. The postage cost is a factor which could be lessened with nationwide sources to allow customer visits as with Ecover. The business should grow from a mainly local enterprise as consumers see the value in full package returns.
It will be worthwhile following developments in the business and I would certainly use their products for the Zero Waste result consumers can achieve.
This looks really interesting. I would be very tempted indeed if they offered a multi-item basket. If you can buy 20 litres of one product for the flat rate postage of 9.50, it ought to be possible to order combinations of products up to 20 litres for the same flat rate. At the moment each item is totally individual.
Great points, John and Lesley – I’ll pass on your comments to Ingrid and David 🙂
The trend to more local production and distribution of product starts here and now.
Centralism is passe, the economies of scale are being fought by the ecologics of carbon accounting(carbon cost) as more companies start counting carbon (a posh term for becoming enviromentally accountable to the planet on which we all live).
Social Accounting or Social Return on Investment (SROI) is the turbo-charger to this process – bring it on.
Mal Williams
@LJayne:
hi,
thanks for you comments on myzeroeaste
we will be altering our website to cover te issue of multi orders of different products.
we are able tosupply mixed product orders,in 5 ltr packs, up to 20 ltrs for £9.50 postage and empty return cost.
either e mail us or ring and we can sort.
on the website,the order system has not been perfected yet for multi product orders,but are working on it.
many thanks.
regards
ingrid