Nivea creates liquid soap refill station to reduce plastic use

German skin care manufacturer Beiersdorf aims to minimize, slow down, reduce and close its material cycles.
Focusing on plastic packaging, Beiersdorf's largest global brand, Nivea, launches its first liquid soap refill season.
The prototype, which is in selected DM stores in Hamburg and Ettlingen, Germany, will test the use of reusable bottles with consumers.
The machine was designed by a multifunctional team from Beiersdorf's global packaging and R&D development department.
"First, we had to understand and define the consumer experience to design a holistic solution," explains Caroline Zia, senior formula developer at Beiersdorf. "While the concept of recharging is not entirely new, the personal care category is not yet proud of the widespread use of this technology. We had to identify the best possible scenario for the consumer and for sustainability. Not all formulations are suitable for the concept of refill. The formulations need to bear the additional load of resection, and we had to carefully choose our products after extensive internal testing. The machine also had to be programmed for additional cleaning protocols. In this way, we can guarantee several filling cycles and still meet our safety and sustainability criteria," she says.
Marta Suslow, designer in beiersdorf's packaging department, adds that the industrial design of the machine had to be sketched." We successfully design the possible routes and adjust the winning concept according to the retailer's internal requirements. Our main intention was to create an easy and differentiated user experience", says the designer. "For example, we decided to use light as visual support to guide users. Whenever one of the refill bottles is filled or a barcode is printed, the built-in LED lights provide feedback to the consumer," marta explains.
"Due to limited time and budget, we noticed the minimum viable product and left out many of the resources we originally had in mind," says Bernhard Felten, packaging prototyping specialist at Beiersdorf. "We still use a scale to control filling, a barcode/QR reader to handle batch coding, choice of formula and reload cycles, as well as sophisticated pumps, color-changing lights, a label printer and a microcontroller programmed to ensure the integration of all necessary functions into an aluminum structure covered with coated steel plates. The end result provides an easy and safe recharge experience for our consumers," he points out.
Refill bottles are produced with recycled PET. "Therefore, the consumer will not only experience the idea of reuse by participating in our pilot project, but will also be part of a recycling cycle, as we recycle the returned bottles again after the testing phase," marta Suslow said.
The pilot project testing phase will take place over six to eight months at selected DM stores in Hamburg and Ettlingen.
Beiersdorf's goal is to understand consumer acceptance and gain knowledge about the usability and management of the supply chain.