We want every Skipper refill to reach you safely, and reliably do its job, wherever in Australia you live.
To make that happen, the tear-open wrappers used across our just-add-water products will soon change from compostable film to a processable soft plastic.
It’s a meaningful change for us, and we know it will be for many of you too. Below we share what’s changing, why we’ve made the call, and where we go from here.
The short version
Our compostable wrappers aren’t reliably keeping the moisture out.
For some customers, particularly in humid parts of Australia, moisture crept its way through the film - causing sachets to bloat, tablets to break down early, and product quality to suffer.
Below we share some of the war stories from our community. Yikes.
We’ve spent years trying to make home compostable more reliable, testing 17 different compostable films along the way. It’s been a doozy.
As optimists we persevered because we believe in “100% plastic free”. However until material science improves (and it will), we have to be honest with ourselves. Compostable wrappers today compromise the reliability of the product inside.
And that’s not a fair trade-off for our community.
These new wrappers will be disposed as a soft plastic, a national scheme that’s been rolling out across Australia from 2025 to process eligible plastic waste. They can’t go into a curbside yellow bin at this stage.
The longer version (Q&A)
Q: How to dispose the new wrappers
These go into a soft plastics drop-off, or regular rubbish. The curbside yellow bin doesn’t support these yet.
The wrapper material is made from polyolefins, without the mixed-polymer laminates, PET or foil layers commonly found in alternatives that compromise responsible processing of soft plastics.
Q: What's changing
Just our tear-open wrapper products: refills for hand wash, body wash, face wash, universal cleaner, dish liquid and machine cleaner.
Q: Could we just skip the wrapper?
Oh, if only. It's the only thing between the product and the moisture in the air, and a just-add-water product that's already met water isn't much of a product anymore.
Q: Why now, after five years?
Because we've been quietly compromising to hold onto it, trading away product integrity and performance along the way. We may well be the only company in the world selling just-add-water products in home compostable wrappers, and no-one else has done it for exactly the reasons we're now changing.
Q: Is this permanent?
Absolutely not. The industry continues to invest in R&D and solutions are being worked on. We’ll aim to be the first to adopt a viable plastic-free alternative, just as we were the last to let go.
Q: Is there a commercial reason?
Plastic is generally cheaper, but this is not a commercial decision. We'd pay more than we were previously for a plastic-free alternative that actually held up.
Q: When is the changeover happening?
Products will start to roll out with the new wrappers over the coming months, with all products transitioning over the next 12 months.
We hope you understand and can appreciate why we’re making this change. Ultimately, we believe the transition will help us push the adoption of just-add-water in Australia further, given the improvements to the product integrity and reliability. This is all about helping a nation cut plastic waste. Short term pain, long term gain we say!
Thanks so much for being on our journey with us.
