Brianne West is a bio-chemist. She was studying at the University of Canterbury when she got the idea for Ethique's products.

A young Christchurch businesswoman is giving consumers a chance to eliminate the plastic waste that comes with their beauty products.

Brianne West, of Ethique, said the idea for her business came to her in the shower while she was in her second year at university.

"I dropped my shampoo bottle on the floor and, as usual, about half of it spilled everywhere and I thought 'this is madness'," she said.

SUPPLIED Brianne West came up with the idea for her products when her shampoo spilled in the shower.

"Why put water in shampoo when there's already water in your shower? Why contribute to the devastating effects of plastic bottles when you don't have to?"

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She decided to formulate a solid shampoo that can be turned into lather with the water in the shower.

It looks like soap and can be kept in a soap container, so there is no need for any packaging.

She said New Zealanders would throw out a combined 50 million shampoo and conditioner bottles every year. Each takes more than 500 years to degrade in a landfill and even those that are sent to be recycled might not end up being reused, she said.

West has also developed another 31 solid beauty bars including cleansers, scrubs, moisturisers, household cleaners and even a self-tanning bar.

In 2015 she secured more than $200,000 in crowd funding through website platform PledgeMe. The campaign attracted the highest number of female investors in the site's history.

Funding has allowed Ethique to move into its own manufacturing facility with a customised lab where West continues to formulate products that marry science with nature. All Ethique products use ethically sourced, naturally-derived and sustainable ingredients.

Solid bars last three to six times longer than their bottled equivalents because they are so concentrated. West said a conditioner bar, which sells for $25, could last a year. Shampoo would last about three months.

West said demand had grown 130 per cent year-on-year and was expected to jump again this year.

Consumers were more and more interested in the environmental impact of their day-to-day lives, she said. "This is an easy way to lessen plastic waste and the reviews of our products are outstanding."

More products are in development.

West said her biggest challenge was to get people to understand what the products were. "People say 'oh so it's just soap' but then they are confused by the price. It's exactly the same as high-quality shampoo but we have removed the water. People understand why, it's the what it is and how that's the difficult bit."