A Serious Note about Sanitizing your Reclaimed Jars

Yay- excited to have you on the refill journey with us.

Here is a quick little checklist to help ensure that your jars are ready for refill.

But first a serious note about why this is so important. One of the main reasons that more companies don’t offer a refilling model in the first place has to do with sanitation. Because of the all-natural & non-toxic qualities of plant-based products, most will only have a plant-based preservative, if any preservative at all. This makes it imperative that the container they go into be completely sterile and dry. Plant-based preservatives prevent mold, yeast or fungus when there is no existing water or other contaminate, like old product residue, in the container. This sounds ominous but the good news is it’s not that hard to clean a container.

And because we appreciate words around here, a quick lesson on semantics:

• to Clean: free from dirt, marks or stains

• to Sanitize (aka disinfect): make clean and hygienic; disinfect

• to Sterilize: make (something) free from bacteria or other living microorganisms

Behold, A step by Step checklist to Clean & Sanitize your Reclaimed Jars:

1. Clean the container & lid to remove the product residue by hand washing. A long brush can help get into the harder to reach places.

2. Remove the previous product label with acetone (aka nail polish remover) and/or soaking in hot water and applying a bit of elbow grease.

3. Run the container and lid through the dishwasher.

Additional Sterilization Steps for extra precaution:

4. Boil container & lid in hot water for 5-15 minutes (This is a proper sterilization process and recommended for face products and leave on skin care)

5. Allow container to completely air dry

*For plastics you can spritz with isopropyl alcohol (70%) and leave to air dry as well.

Transport the container to the refill bar with the lid completely on.

The bottom line, it is crucial that your jar is completely 100% dry before you refill it with anything (***unless you are adding more of the same product to an existing container).

When it comes to types of containers, we prefer glass since it comes in so many color varieties, sizes, shapes, etc. It also is not porous, thus making it the easiest to clean, sanitize and sterilize. If you prefer plastic and/or you have a lot of old plastic containers laying around, narrow them down to your plastic #5’s because #5 is the most substantial and will stand up to the cleaning + sanitizing process best. Aluminum and other metal containers can be cleaned in the same process as glass.

Thanks for helping divert those extra containers from the landfill and giving them a second life. See you at the Refill Bar!