Never Buy Candles Again?! A Full Everly Candle Refill Review
Cost
Everly candle refill packs cost $26. This includes enough to make one 10oz candle with a wick and wick stabilizer. That’s about $2.6 per oz. Here are some prices of some other popular and eco-friendly candles:
Notes Candle Refills: $18 for 11.5oz making it $1.6 per oz
Get a Whiff Co: $22 for 6.5oz making it $3.6 per oz
Good Chemistry Candle Refills: $11 for 8.3oz making it $1.3 per oz
Prosperity Candles: $28 for 7oz making it $4 per oz
So, as you can see, Everly is about in the middle for price and size
How is it Eco-Friendly?
First, let’s look at the wax choice. Any candles that use paraffin wax are an instant red flag for environmental standards (and also health standards). Paraffin is made of petroleum, which is oil. It’s toxic to burn and toxic to extract making it NOT a good option. Thankfully, Everly uses coconut and soy wax.
Next, let’s look at packaging. It ships entirely plastic-free, even the tape is paper. I love to see it! But, if you look deeper at the packaging of the wax itself, it’s not as eco as you might originally think. At least, what I originally thought. I thought the packaging was 100% plant-based, but it is in fact only 60% compostable. But, this is actually better than it sounds…I think…
What this means is that 60% of it will break down quickly and easily, the only 40% won’t. BUT, the entire packaging IS mostly plant-based bioplastic (from what I could find), which is good to hear. Bioplastic, while not perfect, is much less harmful to create than petroleum-based plastic.
Anyway, this is not as great as I had thought their packaging was. This means it cannot be curbside composted as most curbside compost facilities require it to be 90% compostable. So, you have to toss it in your backyard compost to let that first 60% decompose in 12 weeks or so. After that, the remaining hunk of plastic (oil-based from what it sounds like) will not decompose and will need to be thrown away. Or, if you don’t have compost, it has to be thrown away. I don’t love this. I wish the packaging was recyclable or fully compostable and hope they get to that one day.
How do they reduce waste?
Candles normally come pre-filled in jars that are sometimes impossible or hard to recycle. That’s right, not every candle vessel is recyclable depending on what it’s made of! This is why Everly can be great, it reduces the need to recycle glass (which is quite resource intensive) as well as reduce the need to create new glass for new candles (also quite resource intensive). Plus, since not all candle jars are recyclable, it is a great way to reuse those candle jars by just refilling them.
Not to mention, shipping glass is heavy and requires more fuel than shipping just the wax in bioplastic bags. And, glass is obviously breakable, so it’s just less risky to ship just the wax.
Rating
Let’s rate it on a few things
Packaging: 2.5/5
Partial bioplastic is great, but it is not recyclable or compostable which is not good…in fact it’s almost bad
Price: 3.5/5
A little on the high end, but still cheaper than other candles of similar size and ingredients
Shipping: 4/5
They ship plastic-free to include tape and packing materials. They also ship carbon neutral…or so they say, I couldn’t find any explanation for this carbon neutral claim on their website.
Scents: 5/5
Their scents are sooo lovely, unique, and not too strong. I have chronic migraines so I literally cannot use strong, overpowering scents. I love that I can still use their candles.
Other sustainability efforts: 5/5
I love that they encourage customers to reuse jars they already have instead of selling empty jars new or something else like that. They truly do seem to want to reduce waste and not just make money like some greenwashed brands will do.
They are also 1% for the planet, which isn’t a great certification, but it does show that they donate their time and/or money to the planet as well.
Total score: 20/25
Not bad! Of course, no brand is perfect, I know that. Overall, they have some clear improvements that could be made with their packaging and potentially their cost. But, other than that, they really are trying to help customers reduce waste while still indulging in things we love. Plus, they aren’t greenwashing. They clearly outline on their website that their packaging is not perfect and how to properly compost the packaging. If they were greenwashing, they would tell us to compost it and call it a day (even though that wouldn’t work).
All that said, I recommend Everly for folks looking for a more low-waste candle option. I think it’s the best refill model I’ve seen and I will personally keep supporting them, too
Thanks for reading along! I hope you enjoyed this review. If so, stay tuned for more! I want to review more brands in depth like this now that I have time to do it and it makes more sense than using YouTube, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.
As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)
Emma
