Would You Buy an Empty Bottle of Cleaner?

It turns out that only a fraction of the liquid in the cleaning products under your sink is actually cleaning chemicals. Water is the primary material in most cleaners, typically making up around 95% of the bulk.

When you buy a cleaner like that, not only do you have to pay for the water, but that water has to be transported to the manufacturing plant, then to the store and then to your home. That's a lot of wasted energy. It may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but if you add up all the fuel burned in order to move all of that water around for all of the cleaning products sold in the world, it adds up pretty quickly.

Another common source of waste with cleaning products is the bottles they come in. Those plastic bottles are not only made from petroleum products, but require fuel to be burned to produce and ship them. We usually just toss them in the trash once the cleaner is gone, which is silly if you think about it. After all, it's not like a bottle of cleaner is going to get dirty.

To help cut down on all of this waste, Replenish is selling a new line of cleaners with empty bottles. They come with concentrated pods of cleaner that snap onto the bottom of the bottle, completely cutting out all of the waste from the water. The bottles are designed to be reused for years, which further cuts down on waste. You just buy one kit at first and then buy refills as needed, filling the bottles with tap water.

Not only do you get to slash lots of waste, but you'll actually save money, too. Each kit costs eight bucks and contains enough cleaner for four bottles worth of water. Once you run out of cleaner, new pods cost just four bucks. If you do the math over a few years, that means each bottle's worth of cleaner is costing you around one dollar each.

Image via Replenish