PRODUCT REVIEW: Last Object
LastSwab, LastRound, & more!
It’s time for yet another eco-product review! Of course, if you read my reviews you know that I like to test out eco-friendly products that I come across and try to find alternatives to the poorly-made over-the-counter items we use because they’re what’s conveniently available. This time, I’m looking at a few of the different items from the company, LastObject. Since they have so many products, I’m going to break this review into different segments.
LastSwab
I came across LastObject during their initial round of crowdfunding, if I recall correctly, for the LastSwab. They were promoting the idea that this swab will replace several years worth of swabs and the crowdfunding went without any troubles that I can recall. The swab is made from TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) and the case is PLA (polylactic acid; made from corn, biodegradable), meaning these should reduce microplastic pollution and be more easily developed and easily recycled. The swab has two stylistic options: a nobby tip or a smooth, pointed tip (the latter more commonly promoted for makeup removal). A single swab in the case is 15€ or on its own, 8€.
As to whether this will replace several years worth of swabs, I suppose that might be true but it depends entirely on what you need your swab for. Me, I’m one of those people who uses swabs for two reasons: to absorb leftover water in my ears (yes, I am aware to not press things into my eardrums), and to clean objects. So, unfortunately, the LastSwab didn’t really find a useful space in my cupboard to replace single-use swabs. However, for my friend who gets stones in her throat and needs swabs to clean them out? The LastSwab was the best thing ever. The issue for me was that the standard bumpy-tipped LastSwab is not very absorbent, so if you need it to absorb in the way cotton swabs do, this won’t be replacing anything and you’ll have to stick to the bamboo swabs if you’re looking to reduce plastic waste. And if you’re not living in a country with facilities equipped to deal with plastic waste like Finland, even eco-plastics might not be the best choice. It’s also worth noting that users have had complaints about the durability, though I couldn’t say if they’ve changed the production at all to make up for it since.
Personally, for disposable swabs I use the cotton/bamboo options from The Humble Co. (which I order from food salvage).
LastRound
After the success of the LastSwab came the LastRound. So once again, these had very little personal application for me, because I don’t wear makeup (probably the reason my skin is so healthy), which means I also don’t need to apply any astringent or things like that. However, my partner has a generally greasier complexion than I do and he actually does like to use astringent, so he thinks that the LastRound is right about the best thing ever and suspects that he’ll get many, many years out of them with his lighter needs.
The only problem we’ve had with the LastRound is that they don’t, as a default rule, come with a bag for washing them, though there is a package on their website that does include the bag (apparently us crowd-funders did not get one, which is weak). The rounds are right about the easiest thing to get swallowed by your washing machine, meaning that we lost half of the rounds the first time they were washed and basically haven’t been able to wash them since because we haven’t found a small bag to put them in.
Regarding the pricing too, there feels like a bit of a scam in here. I do really think that 10€ for a mesh bag is highway robbery, as is 45€ for the set of rounds with the bag… if the rounds themselves cost 10€ and the bag costs 10€, is the container that holds the rounds really valued at 25€? That doesn’t add up to me at all. This product seems grossly overpriced, even if it is a quality item. The average person isn’t going to take the complicated eco version when it ends up costing them less in the long run to buy disposable rounds, thus, the cost does not encourage eco-friendly consumerism.
LastTissue
The company also offered up a LastTissue, but I didn’t join the crowdfunding, simply because I felt as though I had no use for a tissue that can only be used once or twice before it needs washing. Handkerchiefs have existed long before single-use tissue paper, but the thing about them is that they’re unsanitary, which is why they were largely phased out of regular use. Myself? I don’t generally use tissue paper for anything except blowing my nose when I’m sick, so if I only get one-to-two blows before I need to get up, wash, and dry my reusable tissue? That’s not really doing anything to help me out with my needs, hence me not backing the product. Ergo, I cannot give a proper review, but just explain why I didn’t participate in this one. Though, worth saying that for those who cry a lot at concerts, this could be a really useful item, especially if they’re softer than your average handkerchief.
LastPad
The last reusable item I noted on their website was the LastPad and I will go on record saying that reusable pads are incredible, but I personally have always hated pads because they never sat exactly where I needed them; as such, I am a big fan of Thinx underwear for periods, so I never tried these out because I hate liners and think having just a functional pair of period underpants is easier, as they have no risk of shifting or sliding the way liners do (and if you are in a changing room, like in high school, it doesn’t immediately show the peepers and judgers what’s going on in your personal business). That said, if you prefer liners, this could surely be worth testing out, but I cannot speak on behalf of their quality.
No-Water Products
These reusable objects were the company’s first product line, but since then, LastObject is now promoting “don’t pay to ship water” products, like hand wash, body wash, facial cleanser, and detergent sheets. Their idea is that a lot of the cost of things like laundry detergent and hand soap is because you’re adding water to something, making it heavier during shipping, so they’re offering the products in powder form and you can add water at home. On a surface level, this sounds good, until you look at their pricing, which is where I have an issue…
If the whole point of these no-water products is to save money on not shipping water, why is it that these products are so much more expensive than products that have water in them? Keep in mind that dry detergents have also existed for longer than wet ones, so you can indeed get things like powdered laundry detergent at your local supermarket if you don’t want to pay to ship water and those are, indeed, generally the cheapest and most long-lasting options (eco-quality aside). The same goes for body wash and that sort of thing: it’s pretty easy to even find organic shampoo bars nowadays, and body wash without water is just bar soap.
So let’s look at the cost of these products when compared to the existing dry products, because affordability is usually one of the biggest issues when it comes to eco-friendly products. I’m going to focus on laundry detergent, because they have the most dry options available at stores. LastObject has the following offer:
54x laundry detergent sheets (26€), = 0.48c/wash
At the local S-group supermarket, Prisma, (a standard supermarket in a very expensive country) I checked the price range on dry laundry detergents (as of 11.2024):
Luvil: 7,74€ (4,81€/kg, regular & color, 50 washes), = 0.16c/wash
generic brand: 3,80€ (kilo price, white, 28 washes), = 0.14c/wash
generic brand: 4,96€ (2,40€/kg, color, 35 washes), = 0.14c/wash
Erisan: 6,77€ (4,51€/kg; organic unscented, 39 washes), = 0.17c/wash
Omo: 6,67€ (5,29€/kg, color sensitive, 36 washes), = 0.19c/wash
Omo: 3,89€ (5,56€/kg, sensitive, 36 washes), = 0.11c/wash
The consensus here is that even the organic brands are, on average, half the price or less than Last Object’s equivalent “money-saving” no-water product. I would hope that they would be on par with the Erisan brand of laundry detergent, which was the most organic choice, but alas, nope. As such, my instinct to avoid these products based on their prices seems to have been wise. The situation was essentially the same with body washes and other products as well.
Final Thoughts
So the ultimate conclusion is that LastObject’s last object products are not bad as ideas, with the Last Round as the stand-out product, but there are still further questions to be asked about the company and currently I can’t deny that they show definite symptoms of green capitalism, AKA the exploitation of ethical consumers.
The product line of last objects as of 2024, is a bit niche/female hygiene-oriented. I would love them to make a few more common objects; for example, a stainless steel toothbrush handle (with built-in silicone gum scrapers, perhaps?) that has changeable brushing heads that slot in. That’s something I would actually need to use regularly and toothbrushes are used by everyone, not just make-up users (ideally, at least).
I have no experience with the no-water products, but the reason for that was always the insane pricing, especially while simultaneously suggesting that the buyer is saving money by not shipping water. Doesn’t that mean that their prices should be equivalent or cheaper than the average store product? Surely their ingredient prices aren’t that much more expensive for them than the makers of organic detergent makers, who charge less than half the price? Or are they just bloating the ingredients with unnecessary things in order to justify the price hike? Either way, all signs seem to be leading towards this being a very green capitalist company.
The final thing I’d draw attention to is the part in their FAQ where it mentions that their products are made in China. I don’t know enough details to outright damn this up-front, but generally, China is known for being one of the most dangerous countries in the world when it comes to climate, human rights, and other such ecological and social issues, so the choice to use facilities in China one way or another suggests a certain lack of ethics. I quickly Googled whether you can use eco-friendly plastics in 3D printers (you can!), which have become affordable enough that people have them in their homes, so knowing that it’s not difficult to produce products locally these days, I would need a pretty thorough explanation of what sorts of factories they use and why, their emissions, their work standards, and all sorts of things, before I’d be willing to accept that this is indeed a green company on the production end.
So, on the whole, while some of LastObject’s products are indeed very useful, their pricing and the ambiguity around their production are notable black marks that might very well label them a green capitalist company.
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