Kiilto is piloting the refilling of Serto laundry detergent in consumer stores. What does this mean for sustainable packaging and consumer behavior in the future? Could continued usage and refilling multiple times become common practice?
On Saturday, April 1, 2023, Kiilto organized a Serto refill pilot at K-Citymarket Jumbo in Vantaa, where the consumer had the opportunity to fill a Serto package using a dispensing device. The pilot wanted to spark a discussion about new approaches to reduce the environmental impact of packaging, and to find out the interest of consumers and the trade in such solutions.
Kiilto and the K group have wanted to think together about new solutions and approaches to how the reuse of consumer packaging could be implemented in the future. Smooth and versatile cooperation is needed to promote environmental responsibility: there are many different actors in value chains who, however, often have very similar goals for the development of operations.
Environmental strategies meet consumer behavior
Common goals are behind the pilot: One of the focus areas of Kesko's responsibility strategy is to enable its customers to make responsible choices by promoting change in the entire value chain, and in Kiilto's Promise to the Environment, the goals include helping Kiilto's customers reduce their own environmental footprint, and reducing the use of fossil and virgin packaging every year.
Kiilto's concrete goal is that 70% of Kiilto's packaging is reusable, recycled or renewable by 2025.
"We already have many types of refillable packaging for our industrial customers, but we have promised to pilot refillable packaging solutions also for small packaging sizes by 2024. In the Serto pilot, we were particularly interested in finding out the consumers' thoughts about the matter through interviews: how the idea was received and what areas of development were observed during the experiment", says Arttu Uitto, Kiilto's Key Account Manager.
“The majority were excited about this type of future solution, but also see a challenge of remembering to bring their used, cleaned out bottles to the store. However, I’m hopeful. Like when we first started using reusable grocery bags at the checkout we continually forgot. But now it’s second nature with more practice,” he adds.