Kao's approach centres on concentrating the active ingredients in its products, reducing the volume of packaging material and natural resources needed per unit of product delivered, combined with designing consumer packaging specifically for reuse and refill rather than single use. The company released its first refill packs in 1991, and now offers 423 refill products across its portfolio, according to Cefic's own circular economy research, a scale that reflects three decades of incremental design work rather than a recent, campaign-driven sustainability push.

For downstream retailers and consumers, refill systems shift some of the packaging reduction burden onto product design itself rather than relying solely on end-of-life recycling, an approach increasingly relevant as the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation pushes for absolute reductions in packaging volume, not just improved recyclability of the packaging that is used. Kao's long track record offers other consumer chemicals producers a reference point for how refill and concentration strategies can be scaled commercially over time, rather than remaining niche or premium-only offerings.

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