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Muskus & Vijg
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28% parfumolie
4 min read
Your empty perfume bottle probably isn't getting recycled
What really happens to a perfume bottle when it's empty, and what a refillable fragrance changes.
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Published: Last updated:
You finish a bottle of perfume and drop it in the glass bin. It feels like the right thing to do.
The uncomfortable truth is that in many cases, that bottle never becomes a new bottle. Not because you did anything wrong, but because of how perfume bottles are built.
True or false? · 3 quick questions
How much do you know about your perfume bottle?
- An empty perfume bottle in the glass bin becomes a new bottle.
Often it doesn't. The pump is crimped onto the glass, with a metal spring and a plastic tube inside, and mixed materials are hard to separate. Point 1 shows why.
- Most perfume bottles weigh more than the perfume inside them.
Thick glass and a heavy cap usually outweigh the liquid, and that's before the box and cellophane.
- A 20 ml refill can hold as much perfume oil as a 100 ml eau de toilette.
Ascent is extrait de parfum, with up to 40% perfume oil. Point 3 shows what that means for plastic.
- Glass
- Metal
- Plastic
- + box, insert & cellophane
1. A perfume bottle is several materials pretending to be one
Look closely at the top of most perfume bottles. The pump isn't screwed on; it's crimped on, pressed permanently onto the glass neck so it can't leak or be removed. Inside it there's a small metal spring and a plastic dip tube.
Recycling works by separating materials. Glass, metal and plastic fused together are hard to separate, and the glass itself is often thick, coloured or coated. Depending on where you live, that can mean the bottle is sorted out and discarded rather than melted down.
And the bottle is only part of it. There's the rigid box, the insert and the cellophane. All of it made for a product you open once.
2. And then you buy all of it again
The real waste isn't one bottle. It's that the whole system is designed to be thrown away and replaced. Every time you finish a fragrance you love, you buy a new bottle, a new pump, a new box and new wrapping to get more of the same liquid.
If you wear perfume every day, that adds up to a cupboard of glass over the years. Most of it heavier than the perfume it held.
There's a simpler way to do it.
3. Keep the case. Replace only the perfume.
Ascent was built around one idea: the container should last, and only the perfume should be replaced. The case is machined from aerospace-grade aluminium, made to last a lifetime and to be refilled endlessly. Here's what that changes every time you run out:
Every new bottle
A 100 ml eau de toilette
- A new glass bottle
- A new crimped pump and cap
- A new box, insert and cellophane
- Mostly alcohol, around 5–15% perfume oil
Every Ascent refill
A 20 ml extrait refill
- The same amount of perfume oil
- Less than 1 gram of plastic
- Fits through your letterbox
- Slots into the case you already own
Up to
98%
less plastic per equivalent use
4. It doesn't stop at the bottle
The case is the part you see. Investing in what actually touches your skin, instead of disposable packaging, is the founding idea of Ascent, and it runs through everything else too:
Vegan, no microplastics
Every Ascent scent is vegan and free of microplastics.
Created in Grasse
Developed with master perfumers in Grasse, the home of French perfumery.
Assembled in Rotterdam
By social enterprises that create meaningful work for people who face barriers to employment.
Delivered by letterbox
Refills travel by regular post, from warehouses in the Netherlands and France.
100% recycled paper boxes
The boxes we ship in are made from 100% recycled paper.
5. Reduce first. Contribute on top.
Making, filling and shipping fragrance causes emissions. Ours too. So we work in that order:
What we cut at the source
- Lightweight refills
- Letterbox delivery
- Local fulfilment and assembly
- Boxes from 100% recycled paper
What we fund on top
- 130 trees planted: 10 in the Netherlands, 120 in Zambia
- 3 tonnes of CO₂e retired, protecting the Matevén forest in Colombia
- All through Regreener, a certified B Corp
These contributions don't make our products carbon neutral, and we won't claim they do.
A question we get a lot
"Doesn't sustainable usually mean compromise?"
Often, yes. Not here. The refill is the most concentrated form of fragrance there is, in a case that feels better in the hand than the glass it replaces. And to be straight with you: a refill still comes with some packaging, just a fraction of a new bottle, box and pump.
6 × 2 ml
Afhalen is op dit moment niet beschikbaar
What do the different scents smell like?
Each Ascent fragrance is gender-free and built around a distinctive scent profile, from bright citrus to deep woods and warm spices.
Sandelhout & Muskus
Bruin
38% parfumolie
Bestseller in 🇫🇷
Santal & Kardemom
Blauw
38% parfumolie
Patchoeli & Peper
Groen
25% parfumolie
Trending in 🇫🇷
Grapefruit & Vetiver
Oranje
35% parfumolie
Iris & Amber
Paars
30% parfumolie
Vanille & Oud
Rood
25% parfumolie
Honing & Tabak
Teal
37% parfumolie
Why a refill beats a new bottle
Compared with buying a new 100 ml bottle each time.
| Feature | Ascent | New bottle |
|---|---|---|
Refillable, no bottle to bin |
Ja | Nee |
Up to 98% less plastic |
Ja | Nee |
Fits through your letterbox |
Ja | Nee |
Vegan & microplastic-free |
Ja | Nee |
Assembled in Rotterdam |
Ja | Nee |
Try at home, €25 back |
Ja | Nee |
Why Everyone’s Switching to Ascent
See for yourself.