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RE-use, RE-duce, RE-cycle, RE-iterate.
I’ve had this post in my head quite a while, but I tend to bite my tongue with things instead of posting the details in case I offend anyone, but the time has come.
We receive in-store questions and emails daily as there seems to be a huge misunderstanding with refilling essential oil bottles.
Does Healing Hollow REFILL essential oils bottles?
Technically we prefer not to refill your bottles but wait, there is more to it! Essential oils are very volatile and sensitive so to use your blend for a period of time then refill can change the therapeutic properties of the oils. I compare it to buying milk from last week and having a little left in the bottle and adding this week’s milk to it. While it’s not life threatening it is also not right to do, it can change the taste and it will change the shelf life.
DIFFUSER/PURE OILS:
When talking pure diffuser blends or single oils like lavender, you can refill once or twice, if you like and we will do it for you, however I don’t refill my bottles. If we were to refill to Health Canada Standards, we would have to invest in high temp cleaning machines to sterilize the bottles, then hire someone to take on this task of washing and refilling them as our staff is maxed with customers and online/wholesale orders. If you bring your bottle in and you have washed it, is it to Health Canada Compliant Standards? Are you using high temperatures? Has it sat in your car for a few days with hands touching it? If water residue is left in the bottle, the oil/blend is now ruined as oil and water doesn’t mix. The bottles are so small that cleaning them like large milk companies do isn’t as easy.
ROLL ON BLENDS:
Now we talk roll on blends, you know, the ones you take everywhere, leave at the bottom of your bag, lose under your dusty couch and roll on your dirty flip flop feet. The roller ball is applied to skin which means some skin falls inside and you share it with your favourite people. While this is fine for your 5- or 10-ml use of your blend, we are against refilling those and so is Health Canada. We cannot bring those contaminants into our blending area and we cannot wash and dry that teeny tiny bottle effectively.
We can use our plastic pipettes to refill however these then have to be disposed of, they’re dirty now. If we use our glass syringes, we also have to dispose of those as they are now contaminated and too small (half cm) to get all the water out of. If you want 3 separate blends refilled or three different oils, that is 6 different pipettes or syringes as you cannot put the lavender one inside the oregano one because the whole bottle will then be adultered/contaminated.
IN THE BACK END:
At the shops we package our large batches and carrier oils in 2-4 litre glass containers. These large bottles are reused for about 6 months as they can be sterilized and washed properly due to their size. All our oil suppliers, eco-friendly ones, DO NOT ship our oils in glass bottles, they ship in aluminum due to cost of breakage in transit and weight of glass, those are then transferred to glass at our store.
Our suppliers are environmentally conscious, our wild crafted oil waste all goes back into regrowth and composting. All parts of the plants are used, the farmers do not use pesticides and fertilizers.
GLASS BREAK DOWN:
Glass is recyclable, 100% and is made back into glass within 30 days. Drinks, milk jugs, jars, beer and all glass products are recycled. Larger companies like dairy providers will have a recycle program however they also have their own fleet of trucks that deliver, pick up and have a huge washing and sterilizing facility, small businesses like Healing Hollow do not. When it comes to glass, we think that the cost and harm of fuel due to increased weight is also an issue that hasn’t yet affected us.
If the day ever comes where we can rethink all this, we most certainly will. If we can reinvent this wheel, we will. For now, we reuse all packaging materials, reuse boxes, pack all orders condense and small but we are dealing with GLASS and if it breaks, we pay to have it sent back out and take a loss. If you want to bring your bottle to us, we will gladly take them to the recycle depo, but it is the same place you take all your other glass bottles and I do not want to appear that I am doing something extraordinary when I am not. I do not want to create an Image that is false. We use glass, we take pride in pure, therapeutic oils that are clean and untouched, and it goes deep within my morals to keep things this way instead of trying to please an area that isn’t fully understood yet.
Please feel free to post any questions you may have, we are more than happy to answer and be transparent.
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