Why We Use Plastic: What Sustainable Packaging Really Means to Us

"You're a natural deodorant brand. Why are your bottles plastic?" It is one of the questions we get asked most, and it is a fair one. The short answer: because a tough, light bottle made from Prevented Ocean Plastic™, which you keep and refill for years, uses far less material over its life than a new container every few weeks, whatever that container is made of. The longer answer is below, along with what the word "sustainable" actually means to us, and why it is the thinking behind our King's Award for Enterprise: Sustainability 2026.

Salt of the Earth is a family-owned natural deodorant brand making deodorants in Chandlers Ford, Hampshire since 1993. Our sprays, roll-ons, sticks and balms are certified 100% COSMOS Natural by the Soil Association, registered with the Vegan Society and certified by Cruelty Free International.

What does "sustainable" mean to us?

It is a word that gets used so often it has almost stopped meaning anything. The awkward part, especially with packaging, is that the option that is less impactful on the planet often is not the one that looks it. For us it comes down to three things we can measure and show you:

• Use less in the first place. Refills, so you are not buying a whole new bottle each time, not relying on single-use plastic. 
• Keep things in use for longer. Packaging built to be opened, refilled and reused for years, not weeks.
• Use what already exists. Recycled and Prevented Ocean Plastic ™, rather than virgin plastic, wherever we can.

So we try to decide on the evidence and then explain our reasoning, which takes rather longer than putting a picture of a leaf on the box. If a claim cannot be backed up with a number, a certificate or an independent assessment, we would rather not make it.

Why do we use plastic instead of glass or aluminium?

Plastic has a terrible reputation, and much of it is deserved. But how a pack performs depends on its weight, how far it travels, how many times it is reused and what happens to it at the end, not just what it is made of. When you look at the whole life of a bottle, plastic often comes out ahead. Glass is heavy, so it takes more fuel to move around, and it needs very high temperatures to make. Aluminium looks great and recycles well, but producing it is extremely energy-intensive.

We did not want to rely on gut feel, so we looked at the evidence. Our bottle supplier, commissioned an independent life cycle assessment comparing four 300ml bottles (HDPE plastic, PET plastic, glass and aluminium) across their whole life, from raw materials through manufacture, transport and use to end of life. In a UK market scenario, the HDPE bottle had the lowest overall environmental footprint of the four, ranking best on greenhouse gas emissions, non-renewable energy and materials, freshwater use and overall ecosystem impact. Aluminium ranked last. We wrote up the full results back in 2023 in Plastic vs Aluminium Bottles, GCSEs and LCAs.

That is why our spray and roll-on bottles are plastic. Not because it is the cheap option, but because, for a bottle you are going to keep and refill, the evidence points that way.

What is Prevented Ocean Plastic?

Prevented Ocean Plastic™ (POP) is recycled plastic collected within 50km of a coastline or major waterway, in regions without proper waste management, before it has the chance to reach the sea. It is traceable back to the collection centre, so we know where it came from.

Since 2024, the bottles for our natural deodorant sprays have been made from 100% Prevented Ocean Plastic™ (the cap, pump and label are not included in that figure). It has been a journey to get here: we brought our bottle supply back to the UK, moved from virgin plastic to 50% post-consumer recycled plastic, and then to Prevented Ocean Plastic™.

Our refillable stick bodies are made with 50% post-consumer recycled plastic, and the stick refills come in FSC certified card, so the only plastic part is the one you keep.

Why does durability matter so much?

Because the most important thing about a bottle is how many times it gets used. A single-use container, whatever it is made from, does its job once and then becomes waste. A bottle designed to be refilled does its job again and again.

So we design for the long haul. Our spray bottles and refillable roll-ons are built to be opened, topped up and reused again and again, and to stay sealed in a gym bag. Our refillable roll-on took 18 months of design work before it launched in 2022, because a roll-on that rolls smoothly, refills easily and stays sealed is harder to engineer than it looks.

Then the refills do the heavy lifting. A light refill pouch can come out well against a heavier container that feels greener in the hand: our 300ml spray refill pouch uses up to 85% less plastic by weight than buying three new sprays, and our 225ml roll-on pouch tops up a roll-on up to three times with a similar saving. Across our whole refill programme since 2013, we estimate we have avoided 23.66 tonnes of plastic, the equivalent of more than 2.3 million bottles. That figure is calculated from refill units sold multiplied by the packaging weight saved compared with single-use alternatives.

Refills are not zero waste: the pouches and refill bottles still exist. They simply use a lot less plastic than starting from scratch each time. Our rigid spray and roll-on bottles are widely accepted in UK kerbside recycling, but the best thing to do with them is keep refilling them. Refill pouches are flexible plastic, so check your local council's rules when they are empty. You can see the full range on our refills page, and how it all works in Refillable deodorant: how it works.

Do we use any plastic-free packaging?

Yes, where it is the right choice for the format. Our deodorant balms are not refillable, so we pack them in glass with an aluminium lid and a paper label, materials widely collected for recycling in the UK. Our plastic-free range includes options for anyone who would rather avoid plastic altogether. The point is not that one material is always right; it is choosing the best option for how each product is used.

What does our King's Award for Sustainable Development mean?

In 2026 we received The King's Award for Enterprise: Sustainability, following our King's Award for International Trade in 2025. The Sustainability category recognises businesses whose products and operations contribute to environmental, social and economic progress over at least two years, and the assessment is based on evidence: certifications, audits, measurable outcomes and how deeply it is built into the business.

Our packaging story was a big part of what we put forward: refillable formats since 2013, the move to recycled and Prevented Ocean Plastic™, and the tonnes of plastic our refills have avoided. So were the things around it: our factory has run on a renewable electricity tariff since 2020, we installed solar panels on the roof in April 2026 (estimated to provide around 45% of our electricity over a year), and we are a B Corp and a Living Wage employer. You can read more in our King's Award for Sustainability post.

For us, the award is not proof that we have finished. It is recognition that we have been doing the unglamorous work for a long time, and a nudge to keep going.

What's next for our packaging?

We are working towards more fully recyclable, single-material packaging across our range, so that the parts which cannot be refilled are as easy as possible to recycle. We will keep sharing what we measure, including the things that take longer than we would like.

Have a question about our packaging, or an idea for how we could do better? Leave a comment below. Some of our best improvements started as customer suggestions.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Salt of the Earth use plastic bottles?

Because a light, durable bottle that you keep and refill for years uses far less material over its life than buying a new container every time. An independent life cycle assessment of 300ml bottles in a UK market scenario, commissioned by our bottle supplier, found HDPE plastic had the lowest overall environmental footprint compared with PET, glass and aluminium.

What is Prevented Ocean Plastic ™?

Prevented Ocean Plastic™ is recycled plastic collected within 50km of a coastline or major waterway in regions without proper waste management, and it is traceable back to the collection centre. Since 2024, our spray bottles have been made from 100% Prevented Ocean Plastic™, excluding the cap, pump and label.

Is plastic packaging worse than glass or aluminium?

Not necessarily. Glass is heavy to transport and aluminium is energy-intensive to produce. In the life cycle assessment our bottle supplier commissioned, HDPE plastic ranked first of the four materials overall in a UK market scenario, ahead of PET, glass and aluminium. The most important factor is how long the packaging stays in use.

What did Salt of the Earth win the King's Award for Sustainability for?

We received The King's Award for Enterprise: Sustainability in 2026 following independent assessment. Our submission included refillable formats since 2013, recycled and Prevented Ocean Plastic™ packaging, renewable electricity since 2020, solar panels on our Hampshire factory, and certifications including B Corp and COSMOS Natural.