Circularity
At Chilly’s, our aim is to make our products circular.
Circularity can be approached in a number of ways. As a reusable brand, since our inception we’ve been focusing on longevity and reusability. During the last couple of years, we’ve been working to push this further, investigating and implementing projects focusing on different elements of circularity.
At Chilly’s we are approaching circularity from two angles:
- The product
- The systems the product operates in
At Chilly’s, we believe that you cannot create a circular product and have a truly positive impact if you do not also develop a circular system for it to work within.
The products should be designed and made so that the product and the resources used to make them, can be used, repaired, returned and then reused again and again.
The system should enable this. This means, for example, creating a service where Chilly’s helps the customer to repair its products, and establishing a recycling scheme for products once they are no longer used.
Chilly’s is on a journey to creating circular products, and so is focusing on the following key areas.
Take back what we make
Chilly’s has made a commitment to take back all we make by 2025 so that we can ensure responsible disposal of Chilly’s products.
SYSTEM
Chilly’s has been working to create a system where we can take back our products at the end of their lives and recycle them in order to get the valuable materials back into circulation. Since 2020, we’ve had an active scheme which has enabled our customer to send back products to be recycled. As we have progressed, we decided in 2023 to look beyond our own products and trial taking back more than we make – in other words, take back and recycle reusable products from other brands.
Our commitment is to take back all we make by 2025. Our focus has been primarily on reusable bottles, but we have expanded this to include reusable cups from any brand and Chilly’s food pots. This is because bottles, coffee cups, food pots and their lids make up 95% of our sales.
Going forwards, we’ll be investigating how we can take back and recycle our other product ranges.
PRODUCT
Having a system to take back our products is one part of the puzzle. We also need to ensure that the products that we take back can be disassembled and effectively recycled or reused.
To achieve this, the product team is focusing on the product’s “end of life”, which literally means what happens to it once it is no longer used. The design and make up of a product has a huge impact on this, which is why our team are looking at the following two elements when creating or evolving our products:
Material recyclability - what it is made from and can it be recycled?
Disassembly - can it be taken apart to be recycled?
Disassembly
Being able to separate materials once used is a key part of what happens to a product in the “end of life” phase. Generally, where two different materials are not able to be separated easily, e.g. glued together, it makes it difficult to recycle back into the original materials.
With this in mind, for any Chilly’s designed component that began development after 2023, the product team has actively been trying to avoid bonding different materials together. This includes trying to avoid the use of: adhesives; permanent bonding or connecting of components; and, multi-shot multi material moulding – all of which would prevent easy disassembly for recycling.
At the moment, we are focusing on our core range, and - specifically in design - the lid design for products that form Chilly’s Series 2 and beyond. This is also in line with our approach to the recycling system and the company’s future focus around circularity.
We have made a commitment to formally add durability and repairability considerations into the design process for new products by the end of 2024.
Material Recyclability
Certain materials are difficult to recycle. The reasons for this vary. It can be due to a material not performing well once recycled, or because it is complicated and expensive to recycle and the demand for it once recycled does not exist, making it not commercially viable.
At Chilly’s, we would like to reach a stage where every element of our product is made of a material that is able to be easily recycled. As we design and develop new products, we are analysing what we are using and investigating alternatives where possible when a material is seen as hard to recycle.
Products that last
As a reusable brand, since our inception we’ve maintained a focus on longevity and reusability. The two key areas of consideration that contribute to how long a product is used for are:
Create a durable product – how long a product lasts for and how robust it is
Create a system where a product can be repaired – repairing and upgrading parts to keep product in use
The design team have integrated the lifespan of a product into the requirements looked at during development. Currently the focus is to ensure that a product can be used for a long time, and parts of the product can be fixed if they break - allowing for easy replacement at the individual component level. However we have made a commitment to formally add durability and repairability considerations into the design process for new products by the end of 2024.
PRODUCT
When approaching a product, the element that underpins everything we do at Chilly’s is reuse. We want our products to be used, and used, and used again. We approach this by using quality materials that are reliable, hard wearing and right for the job.
During design decisions, we must balance and decide between the environmental impact of a product and its potential life span. Sometimes these things come hand in hand, but in other instances, we may make allowances or compromises for the quality of the product.
An example of this is our 90% Recycled Stainless Steel range. The reason we have used 90% rather than 100% is down to quality. We make all of our stainless steel bodies out of 304 grade stainless steel. The 10% of virgin material is added so that it meets the same high standard and maintains material properties.
We make sure our products have durable finishes. Our powder coat finishes are supplied by industry-leading experts in powder based coatings. Every new bottle colour or finish goes through rigorous quality tests, including:
UV degradation and resilience to sunlight fading
cross hatch scratch tests that tests the finishes resistance to flaking once scratched
chemical erosion which is the test against colour fading caused by oils and hand sweat
sclerometer testing is a pin point test that tests for a finishes’ scratch resistance
flexibility of powder coat to ensure the powder coat won’t peel if you were to dent the bottle
dishwasher testing to determine the number of cycles before a powder coat finish starts to peel and flake.
specific tests for certain finishes
SYSTEM
Chilly’s customers are able to buy replacement seals and lids for our products, meaning that they are able to replace or repair their lids at home. This includes all of our OG and Series 2 bottles, cups and food pots on the market at the moment.
This is an area where we’re keen to keep pushing to see what we’re able to do. The barrier we’re finding is that in order to repair a product to where it appears “as new”, requires ordering lots of spare parts in different colours. We’re still working out how to provide small component replacements without causing overproduction and waste.
For our Series 2 cups and bottles, customers are able to disassemble and replace parts of the lid of the product.
For example, the coffee cup head and lid are sold separately, which means that if one part was to become damaged, then the customer can buy that individual part in a colour of their choice and replace the part at home.
This repairability element of the product range has been made viable due to the colour customisation element of our Series 2 products, which means we have these individual pieces in stock and are used to create new products as well as repairs.
