Body Shop To Buy 600 Tons Of Plastic Waste

Words by Luhar Singh

Body Shop To Buy 600 Tons Of Plastic Waste
Body Shop To Buy 600 Tons Of Plastic Waste

British beauty company Body Shop is collaborating with Plastics For Change to source 600 tons of waste plastic next year as part of its Community Fair Trade program.

The plastic waste will be procured from trash pickers in Bangalore, India and will be used in producing more eco-friendly packaging. 

Body Shop’s Community Fair Trade program, which focuses on ethically sourcing ingredients such as shea butter from Ghana and paper boxes from Nepal, was launched in 1987 and now accounts for 25 percent of the company’s ingredients budget.

“We need the best quality bottles, we need them at the right time in the right place. And … this is just like how we work with (ingredients like) shea, this is how we work with Brazil nut, this is how we work with mango,” said Mark Davis, the head of the Fair Trade program at Body Shop, in an interview with CNBC.

“Effectively, if you transpose Bangalore city to the rainforest, it’s exactly the same method. You’ve got a group of people and you need them to be organized. You need them to know what good quality looks like, and if they bring you better quality, you can pay them more money for the better quality,” he added.

The collaboration with Plastics For Change will not only help reduce the company’s use of virgin plastic and help save the environment but will also help improve the working conditions of trash pickers. 

In India alone, there are an estimated 1.5 million to 4 million trash pickers who help recycle nearly 20 percent of discarded municipal solid waste. These workers are often forced to work in a toxic environment as they must parse through waste in landfills without any protective gear. 

Body Shop’s move to source discarded plastic for its packaging has been a long time in making. The company reportedly spent five years building its supply chain and developing processes that ensure that the raw material meets the standards and can be turned into plastic granules, which are then used to create the packaging.  

While the company is working on making its business more sustainable, it is also encouraging other retailers to take steps toward reducing their carbon footprint and cutting down their use of plastic.

The company told CNBC that it is helping put Plastics For Change in touch with other players in the beauty industry and other retailers such as Ikea. 

“They are already cutting deals with them on how they can use … (all) kinds of plastics,” David said.

Body Shop’s efforts to make its products more sustainable comes at a time when consumers are leaning toward shopping with brands that are more environmentally conscious — something that eCommerce platforms such as Amazon are also beginning to recognize.

Earlier this week, Amazon said that it would soon start labeling qualifying items sold across its U.S. website with one or more of 19 different sustainability certificates. The company has also launched a $2 billion fund to support businesses and innovations to further its mission of decarbonizing the economy.

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