Revolutionizing purchasing of household products
smol launches refills for frequent use cleaning products through subscribing brands in D-PAK™ cartons.
smol was set up in 2018 by two experienced industry professionals who saw a better way to buy laundry products. Today smol is leading a revolution in planet-friendly home cleaning products and sees D-PAK™ carton packaging as a big part of its future.
It started with a simple vision – to create a range of household cleaning products that delivered brilliantly performance-wise, gave sustainable benefits that the big brands didn’t, and that were accessible and affordable for customers. Such key principles encourage everyone to take part. And when everyone comes together to make little changes – it soon adds up to a lot. To sum up perfectly, “smol things make a big difference.”
After launching laundry capsules in 2018, their range now includes dishwasher tablets, fabric conditioner, refillable spray bottles and washing up liquid plus the exciting and recent addition of a personal care range. All conveniently delivered direct, as and when needed by their customers.
With the constant drive to reduce plastic, carbon and chemicals, a major milestone came in 2020 with the launch of its first 100% plastic-free laundry and dishwasher packs. It was a world-first.
“We know that plastic is a big issue for our customers and we are always looking for ways to reduce plastic in our packaging. We keep an eye on the key trends in the packaging world and we can see that along with plastic, reducing carbon is also key for our planet. Weighing up our options and reviewing the packaging solutions on the market, the D-PAK™ carton from Elopak really called out to us as a positive step forward.”
Sophie Bramley, Innovations Manager at smol
From mid-October existing smol customers started to receive both the fabric conditioner and washing up liquid refills in 500ml D-PAK™ cartons.
“Now customers just keep one bottle of washing up liquid and/or fabric conditioner and refill them from our new cartons,” adds Lucy Wishart, Marketing and Communications Manager. “It is important to help consumers change habits with easy solutions – so when the refill arrives, they just open, pour into their bottle. Each carton is a single fill for the bottles, so no waste and once used, cartons can be rinsed and folded ready for recycling. Nice and easy.”
A revolution to clean up our planet.
Co-founder Nick Green explains, “When we started smol we knew there was a better alternative and more convenient way to bring high performance sustainable homecare products at the best price direct to consumers.”
Whilst the COVID pandemic highlighted the need for a direct to home service for cleaning products, less plastic and reduced carbon were also a high priority for customers.
“The UK disposes of over 468 MILLION single-use plastic cleaning spray bottles every year 1. Household cleaning brands have long been a part of the problem, so it is time for the carton refill to replace the plastic landfill. Only 12% 2 of the UK’s plastic is being recycled right now with most of the remaining 88% either shipped to other countries for them to deal with, either through landfill or burning. It was clear we needed to look for the next step to progress away from plastic bottles. Elopak’ s D-PAK™ carton is the best option for us, massively reducing our plastic consumption as well as reducing our carbon footprint.”
Nick Green, Co-funder of smol
“We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to innovate our products to be better for the planet and more convenient for our customers, and Elopak’s D-PAK™ carton is a perfect next step for smol to help cut down on plastic bottles; taking the refill revolution one step forward, starting off with our washing up liquid and fabric conditioner.”
Refillables for life with new smol cartons
In 2023, smol is the UK’s fastest growing homecare brand, with an aim to manufacture with a lower carbon footprint. Products have reduced levels of added chemicals and are vegan and free from animal cruelty.
Launching in November, smol’s Washing Up Liquid and Fabric Conditioner starter kits will include a bottle-for-life, made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, and the new smol D-PAK™ cartons to refill form and recycle.
“Customers can refill their bottle for life again and again” adds Sophie. “From its very beginning, smol wanted to shake up the stagnant household cleaning market by bridging the divide between big brand products that focus on affordability and efficacy, and smaller eco-friendly brands that are more expensive and less effective.
Every month we are saving hundreds of thousands of water bottles worth of plastic, keeping tens of tonnes of chemicals from our waterways and saving many hundreds of Paris to New York flights worth of carbon emissions. We are constantly working to innovate, find better ways to create solutions and challenge the status quo and the launch of our new smol cartons is a key part of this.”
Look out for more of smol’s products launching in D-PAK™ refill cartons soon.
1. D.S.Smith research This is the average annual waste for a Brit – digitalhub (swnsdigital.com)
2. The Big Plastic Count 2022