In December 2019, Jason Kottke linked to an interesting project by Berlin-based product designer Jonna Breitenhuber, which she called SOAPBOTTLE. The idea: Shampoo and body wash bottles made of slow-dissolving soap — in turn made from organic ingredients, oils, and caustic soda — which you can use to wash off with once empty. No more wasteful plastic packaging!

I remember thinking at the time, “It'd be nice if this were a real product and not just some concept thing.” Well, my friends, the time has come to make that wish a reality, because she's taken to Kickstarter to get SOAPBOTTLE funded for real. ?

The problem: Every year, millions of tons of packaging waste are sent to landfills or disposed of into the environment, leading to the drastic degradation of the natural ecosystems on which we depend on. Disposable and single-use plastic account for the largest share, including packaging for personal care products which often last for only a few weeks but result in long-term damage to the planet. So, why is packaging still made from materials such as plastic, that take more than 400 years to decompose?

Our solution: By turning the product into packaging, we have transformed the concept of packaging-free cosmetics to design a sustainable SOAPBOTTLE for liquid care products. Unlike any other packaging, the SOAPBOTTLE is made from a soap formula that can be entirely used like hand soap and “washes away” together with the waste water over time. Finally, it decomposes in the sewage plant within a few days, so that waste can be completely avoided.

The only part of the bottle that isn't made from soap is the small stainless steel clip/closure that slides over the cut corner to keep the contents fresh, and even that can simply be reused on the next SOAPBOTTLE or recycled without fuss. The paper label is also made from recycled (and re-recyclable) materials and printed with environmentally friendly colors, so you don't have to worry about that either.

I'm genuinely excited to see this concept come to life and hope you'll back the project yourself. We need more ideas like this in the world.