This is How Lush Beauty Will Save the Oceans From Plastic Pollution
If you’re trying to choose where to get your next bath and body beauty fix from, we’ve got just the place.
The many, wonderful sides of Lush
Lush has made fresh, handmade cosmetics since its inception in 1996. The company’s creatives make bath bombs and other unique beauty treats.
Although the company is known for making and selling products that are 100-percent vegetarian, 83-percent vegan, 60-percent preservative-free, and 38-percent packaging free, its the business’ creative take on recycling that’s got us smitten.
Recycling ocean plastic
All of Lush’s cosmetic bottles and pots are made from post-consumer recycled materials and some include found, recycled ocean plastic. “At Lush, it’s in our DNA to have a minimal environmental footprint,” Lauren Sundstrom, Lush brand PR coordinator, says.
“So, when our products can’t be naked (solid and no packaging), we have to get creative.”
Plastic pollution is out of control
Lush’s plastic reclaiming project was a response to an alarming trend. According to a 2016 Washington Post piece, plastic waste could outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050.
“Disturbed by those viral images of whales with guts full of plastic bags and turtles with straws wedged in their nostrils, Lush decided to call upon a Charity Pot partner, Ocean Legacy, to help stop our oceans becoming floating landfills,” Sundstrom says.
So, Ocean Legacy and Lush began collecting plastic from the ocean and shorelines of Vancouver Island in Canada. The area is conveniently around the corner from Lush’s headquarters.
Almost 27 tons of plastic were gathered, tested, and successfully converted by Urban Resource Group (URG), Lush’s materials manufacturer, into high-quality plastic pellets.
The pellets get combined with other post-consumer waste. These materials make Lush’s 100-percent recycled bottles and black pots. “Lush is always looking for innovative ways to advocate for the environment, as well as animals and humans,” Sundstrom says. And this project, thankfully, takes the innovative cake.
“In addition to this ocean plastics project, Lush also implements a black pot recycling program,” Sundstrom adds.
So, if customers bring five empty black pots to a Lush store, they receive a free Fresh Face Mask in return. All of Lush’s pots get sent back to the company’s Vancouver and Toronto facilities. The pots are ground down and made into new black pots.
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