This year, over 48,000 refill packs were sent out for a second (or third, fourth, fifth..) life.

That's our best year ever.

If you break it down, it works out to about 191 recovered refills being sent out every single working day.

That number makes us proud.

It tells us the system is working harder, faster, and reaching more people than ever before.

But, like most things, the picture isn't quite that simple.

In percentages, the story looks different.

Last year, 31% of all the refills we sent out were on their second life.

This year, that figure dropped to 22%. It stung to see the number go backwards. But when you step back, the reason is clear. We grew - by over 50% this year.

Thousands of new people joined the Dirt community. Demand for our newer products like Stain Remover Oil, Body and Grease skyrocketed. More starter packs left our warehouse than ever before.

This growth has a weight to it; there is a more than 12 month lag between when a product hits the market and when we can start processing it for refill return.

So with older SKUs like Original Laundry Detergent Refills, 61% of refill sent were reused, but with newer SKUs like Stain Remover Oil, Body and Grease that percentage was zero.

However we are excited to say they are due to start processing this month.

Beyond the refill return numbers, and perhaps more impactful there are other figures we celebrate as we grow. 

Last year, we delivered over 35 million loads of laundry. If those loads came in traditional supermarket packaging**, they would have needed about 61 tonnes of plastic.

Because of our concentrated, refillable design, we've cut that number to just under 7 tonnes.

Our commitment to sustainability goes beyond just refillable packaging. We're constantly working to reduce our environmental footprint across all aspects of our business.

We didn't purchase a single bit of padding for our boxes (we use our waste cardboard instead). We sent all our soft plastic to Reground for actual recycling. We made over fifteen thousand scoops out of recovered plastic from end of life packaging.

We are proud of what we're doing that doesn't make the headline story, as well as what we're doing that does.

Every decision we make considers its impact on the planet. Our whole business is geared to go the extra mile for no other reason than 'it's the right thing to do'. 

As we look to the future, we're excited about the possibilities ahead. Our goal is to make sustainable laundry something everyone can get around.

We know there are some changes on the horizon for us next year. New things are coming, old things are being tweaked and more space will be necessary.

This may cause some program interruptions, but it also means we also get the opportunity to find further efficiency gains along the way.

As always, we'll keep you updated, warts and all.