Smartfill open-sources refill technology to accelerate reuse across Global South markets

The device was developed with Bopinc and Unilever through Transform, an impact accelerator with the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and EY. Together, Transform combines grant funding and business support to help scale visionary impact enterprises that are building more inclusive and sustainable economies, as well as driving climate-resilient growth.

Utilising a technology developed in South Africa and first implemented in Bangladesh, the project successfully developed a low-cost system which allowed consumers and shopkeepers to refill liquid fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products into bottles, replacing sachets. The devices were first tested in a traditional trade setting - the ‘mom and pop shops’ that serve low-income communities with FMCG products in Bangladesh. Similar refill devices are now being tested in South Africa through a separate Transform funded project.

Despite growing momentum behind reuse, high hardware costs remain one of the biggest obstacles to scaling refill systems globally. Through open sourcing their designs for others to use, DY/DX and Smartfill hope that hardware costs can be reduced to below $50/dispenser, creating a positive business case to grow this retail format.

“Refill won’t scale if every market has to start from scratch,” said Nevo Hadas, CEO of Smartfill and partner at DY/DX. “We already see multiple small-scale hardware manufacturers recreating the wheel in pilots when the technology could be made available and the investment focused on driving adoption. By open-sourcing the core dispenser design and learnings for shampoos, liquid soaps and conditioners, we’re lowering the barrier to entry so brands and innovators can adapt, improve and deploy refill systems that are proven to work. This has strong potential to directly tackle sachet sales, which are made of multi-layered plastic and difficult to collect and recycle.”

Unlike Smartfill’s South African deployments which operate as fully managed commercial systems providing food-safe solids and liquids, the Transform project was designed around Bangladesh’s local market requirements, using a smaller unit size and a custom bill of materials for dispensing FMCG products. The core designs can be further adapted by developers.

“This is about accelerating industry learning so refill can compete with single-use packaging on price, reliability and convenience,” Hadas added.

The designs will be made available through a General Public License, which allows any party to utilise the designs for commercial use, so long as any improvements developed are available to all to allow for rapid development of the technology.

The open-source assets will enable FMCG manufacturers and hardware developers to build, adapt and iterate on low-cost refill hardware. They are hosted on a moderated open-source repository, OpenRefill. Supported by Transform and contributing industry partners, it will include:

• Dispenser hardware designs using widely available components
  
• Shared bills of materials to help reduce unit costs to under $35 per product line
  
• Firmware guidelines and technical standards to support accuracy, quality assurance and fraud prevention
  
• Documentation of technical, behavioural and business-model learnings from real-world deployments.

Beyond hardware, the open-source initiative is intended to support industry standards, regulatory reform and collaboration. Shared data and documentation will help advocacy groups and policymakers address gaps in metrology, labelling and quality standards that currently limit refill adoption in many countries.

By positioning itself at the centre of an open refill ecosystem, Smartfill aims to strengthen its role not only as a solution provider, but rather as a catalyst for industry-wide change.

“Our vision has always been that refill dispensers will be as common as cold drink fridges. If refill is going to win, it has to be cheaper, simpler and easier to adopt than single-use packaging,” Hadas said. “Open source is a part of how we get there, and we call on innovators around the world to improve on our designs, implement in new markets and bring this technology to scale.”

Visit the repository at OpenRefill.