Corporate Reply from Bath and Body Works
I wrote about Bath and Body Works’ lack of liquid hand soap refill kits before. In fact, I excercised my power as a consumer and wrote them about the matter.
To: customerservice@bathandbodyworks.com
From: *****@gmail.com
Subject: Retail Stores Comments/QuestionsOrder Number:
Name: Shun Chu
Phone Number: 408.***.****Wrote: To whom this may concern:
While my wife and I admire the fine quality of your products, I was stunned to have found out that Bath & Body Works does NOT make any kind of refill kit for all of your liquid and foaming hand soap products!! I am particularly disappointed with the fact that wonderfully designed foaming hand soap dispensers are going to waste when they are still in perfect working conditions.
For a major company like Bath & Body Works under the umbrella of Limited Brands, I was hoping BBW would do more to help the recycling efforts in curbing volumes of perfectly working liquid/foaming hand soap bottles going into landfills.
After doing some research, it appears Dial and Johnson+Johnson seem to be taking the lead in that area. I am so sorry that we will be using their refillable bottles until BBW addresses this problem.
My family loves using your products. But we love the environment a little more. Sorry.
Best Regards,
Shun Chu
Impressively, their turn around time on replying to consumer concerns was incredibly fast — the next day!
Dear Shun,
Thank you for you email regarding the recycling of our product packaging. We will be happy to address your concern.
We value our reputation for excellent customer service, and always take great interest and initiative in making changes which are beneficial to our customers.
At Bath & Body Works, we share your concern for protecting the environment. After thoroughly investigating trash handling in all 50 states, we found that the best overall plan for recycling is local disposal. In many communities the trash is recycled by burning to create energy, which saves other precious fuels like oil and gas. Waste disposal experts show that by converting waste to energy, the amount of waste going to a landfill is reduced by 90%, which eliminates 99% of the air pollution.
Previously, Bath & Body Works had to use another container with packing materials and as many as three trucks burning gasoline and emitting pollution to get to the recycling plant in Tennessee. All that extra gasoline usage and exhaust pollution was wasteful and bad for our environment. We found a better more earth friendly way to recycle our bottles locally.
We appreciate your comments and take them seriously. In fact, customer suggestions and comments often provide direction for future offerings in our stores and online.
Sincerely,
Tiera W.
BathandBodyWorks.com Customer Service
Visit www.BathandBodyWorks.com
As impressive as the response time was, the subject matter was completely off topic. I suspect it was simply a template and matter of copying and pasting in that particular reply to me. How disappointing.
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December 16th, 2005 at 12:03 am
Huh?
What they replied was totally beside the point!
They must have a system in place that detects the words “landfill” and “reuse” in your letter and spits out a response. Never mind that the response does not correspond to the issue!
:rolleyes:
April 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
How frustrating! I am looking for refills too. I think it is a waste of the bottles to just toss them after they are empty, but with nothing to fill them with, I have no choice.
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:04 am
I’m pretty disgusted at their reply, no matter how fast. Obviously they want to make it seem like they care enough to reply quickly, but that doesn’t really matter when the subject is off-topic, now does it?
I recycle my Bath & Body Works handsoap dispensers, bath wash (regular, not “creamy”) and lotion bottles. These are plastics #1 and can be recycled. I do agree with needing refill bottles, also recyclable. Not only to save on plastics (waste or recycle), but a lot of people still don’t recycle, so refill bottles will most definitely help with landfill issues. Also, my town only started recycling plastics a short while ago; so even though I wanted to recycle, I couldn’t do it in my town, so I’m sure there are plenty of places out there that still don’t.
I am actually wondering if their “creamy body wash” containers are recyclable. I’ve been searching and searching my bottles for the symbol. Does anyone know if they are? I can only recycle plastics #1 and #2. Thanks.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:04 am
what exactly do you think the form of the soap refill should come in? a sealed vessel of some sort to pour into your now-empty pump bottle? that means yet more trash packaging–also recyclable, of course–for the refill. two times the trash.
recycling does not only appear on the corporate level–that of which is explained to you in BBW’s reply–but on the individual level as well.
using a refill does not make you a “starred” recycler; you are merely suggesting that the average person–such as yourselves–is too lazy to recycle your original trash to begin with. at every bath and body works, packaging is recycled precisely according to law, on every day the sanitation department designates it. from all the boxes that were unpacked and broken down yesterday to the giant glass vase a coworker inadvertently knocked over.
anyone who recycles is welcome to do so locally, just like everyone else. it’s unfortunate if your own community may put certain restrictions on types of plastics they will recycle, however, your own communities ideas on recycling have nothing to do with bb’s–as they, again, recycle according to the law. The problem is that of either your state, city, village, town, etc. why would you try to shift the “blame”?
as i sit here at my home computer, i have just picked up a bottle of bbw body lotion and looked at the bottom of it. I am simply aghast at what I’ve found! A recycling symbol!!!! Shocking, isn’t it? no need for extra garbage to refill it and then recycle that; just recycle the first bottle to begin with.
Maybe you’re thinking that you want to have the new “refill packaging” disappear into thin air> if not, you are asking for twice the trash for one product.
there seems to be a lack of comon sense here on this issue. you suggest that one recyclable replace another, so that you can keep recycling something that’s already recyclable to begin with.
Perhaps in your overzealousnes and need to blame anyone and everyone you can, you have lost sight of the original point of recycling. You’d feel better filling those refuse points with refill packaging, i take it.
And, bear in mind–not everything ACCORDING TO LAW has been designated as a “reuse” or a recyclable.
Maybe tomorrow you’d like to storm the doors at such flagship stores as marc jacobs, missoni, ralph lauren, fresh and chanel? None of my perfume bottles bear a recycling symbol on the bottom.
with bbw packaging, “reuse” is eliminated so you may recycle your original purchase and procure another–which is also recyclable.
Have you never heard the slogan “Think globally, act locally”? Bath and Body Works does think globally; it’s up to YOU to “act locally.”
So, they have answered your questions on a global level, and i have added info on the local level. Their answer is not “off-topic,”–not in the least, in fact–just a bit incomplete.
It’s unfortunate and i, for one, apologize that you were unhappy with a truthful and valid answer–one that covered the grand scale of the issue instead of just a short “thanks for your comment; we love to hear from our customers. the issue is very important to all of us and we’ll immediately spend gazillions of dollars to change, adjust, buy more materials and machinery just to please you, Shun Chu.”
Do you wait for your newspaper to magically transform itself into the next day’s edition, or do you, uh, hmmm, recycle it and buy a new one?
Why don’t you just toss the plastic soap bottles in the recycling bin as one would a soda can? correct me if i’m wrong, but i believe that soda cans are not “refillable.” They are processed, as is plastic, and made into new cans, bottles, or whatever they are designated to newly be. There are state and local guidelines on that issue as well.
Further, Bath and Body Works is not and cannot be responsible for cities, states, communities and individuals that do not recycle.
Your complaint letter is not a well-thought-out piece, and hopefully, “the big picture” will give your smug self a little bit more to think about.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:08 am
quick, call the recycling police on colgate-polmolive–my softsoap watermelon soap pump is recyclable, but it’s NOT refillable! heaven’s, what will we do???
June 5th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
i love you Iseult
June 5th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Wow. You guys really missed the point. I pondered on not replying because what lseult has said is really out of context. But here it is…
1. The idea is really to produce less plastic, hence reducing the energy that goes into making and shipping them. With a big refill bottle, you produce the plastic once, ship it once and the customer’s bottles stays refilled for a while. The more tiny bottles you make and sell, the more you are wasting the energy to produce and recycle them. Get the idea?
2. You don’t know anything about me or my family, or any of our efforts in recycling. I find it interesting that you’d go so far as to comment about the lack of recycling we do. We recycle, quite literally, almost everything we can recycle (or reuse if the item doesn’t have to be thrown away immediately). We do much as we can to fit the practice into our lifestyle. Do you? I take public transit to and from work. I walk to public transit stations. I car pool when necessary/convenient. Do you?
Constructive comments are usually more helpful in getting constructive actions. Mockery usually doesn’t get anything done. My 2 cents on public relations.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:28 am
dear head atom:
do you know WHY the idea is to produce less plastic? aside from the gazillion years it takes to break down? aside from the plastic bags that strangle wildlife? aside from polluting the environment? because it is made of petrochemicals, and it is produced with the aid of machinery that runs on petrochemicals, say, uh, GAS–all of which is created from OIL. just like your COMPACT DISCS and DVDs, old 33 LPs and 45s.
no one has portended to insinuate that they are aware of your family in any way, shape or form. in fact, no family in particular was referenced at all, except perhaps shun’s; maybe it is you who has taken things out of context…or are so paranoid as to have personalized bbw’s recycling practices to yourself. because THAT is what this subject is about. NOT you and your family. hello!
no, MY note is not out of context. if you refuse to see the big picture of bath and body works AND the state of the “green” world–or fail to read correctly, that’s your responsibility.
can you please quote me exactly, where i proclaimed to “know anything about you and your family”? also, quote where i state that i’ve “gone so far as to comment about the lack of recycling [you] do”?
for your information, bbw DID make refills…only NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE WERE BUYING THEM TO JUSTIFY THESE ADDITIONAL FORMS OF COMPLICATING THE REST OF THE “GREEN” effort.
some people need to do a little research before they command that they be obeyed.
yes, we all take public transportation–my family & coworkers; yes, we walk to that transportation; yes, we do recycle everything from milk cartons, electronics, and glass to anything with a recycling symbol; clothing by donating to such places as goodwill; cardboard, plastics, and anything else the state or city will allow us. thanks for asking.
“You don’t know anything about me or my family, or any of our efforts in recycling.”
i am glad you carpool. we gave up our car because it was in so many ways bad for the environment–not to mention gasoline and oil issues. perhaps you, too, will one day give up carpooling, gas, oil and omissions.
bbw is in business to provide what the customer wants, and by and large, the collective customer was NOT BUYING the refill nor recycling the bottles; hence, its production was ceased.
you’re right; “mockery…doesn’t get anything done.”
Yet, i guess “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” maybe that’s why you’ve felt so free to resort to mockery yourself.
touche.
thanks.
peace.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Admin:
i’m sorry this seems to be a real sore point for you. it was not my intent to push anyone’s “buttons.”
i must, however, reiterate, that the individual is responsible at the local level for whatever action he or she takes in recycling and protecting this planet.
vty,
lge