Hand Sanitiser Bottle Return Program
Since the start of the global COVID pandemic, 83 Islands have filled, sold and distributed over 33,500 bottles of hand sanitiser in Vanuatu. When the crisis initially hit Vanuatu in March 2020, we sold hand sanitiser in bulk and refilled customers’ bottles on the site. We moved to a high quality plastic bottle for safety reason. Although hand sanitiser can kill most viruses and bacteria, some bacterial spores that could be found in dirty containers could theoretically survive even our strong 80% Ethanol hand sanitiser. This is why WHO recommends using hydrogen peroxide in hand sanitiser, its oxidative power can destroy those spores. At 83 Islands Distillery, we use a more powerful industrial food grade oxidiser to clean our bottles before filling them with hand sanitiser. Furthermore, we only use water filtered by reverse osmosis to guarantee that there is no organic contaminant in our products.
Two years later and with COVID now in the country. It’s time to start reusing some of those 33,500 bottles. To ensure the highest safety standard, we will not refill bottles on the spot. To make sure the bottle wasn’t contaminated while empty, we will take it, clean it and refill it. This process will take at least 24h. This is why we will simply give you a credit towards a new or refilled hand sanitiser bottle.
Right now, we will only accept 83 Islands Distillery Hand sanitiser bottles or Jerry can of 1, 5, 10 or 20 litres. When and if the government lift the curfew, we will also accept our 500 ml bottles.
- 1L – 100 VT Credit
- 5L – 200 VT Credit
- 10L – 400 VT Credit
- 20L – 500 VT Credit
Starting Monday March 14, to return your bottle, proceed to the public entrance of the distillery and drop your bottles in our dedicated bin next to the bottling facility building. Our employee will give you a credit in exchange for the bottles.
