British cosmetics retailer LUSH has announced that it is introducing Prevented Ocean Plastic globally.
It has already introduced certified recycled Prevented Ocean Plastic (POP) for its 100ml, 250ml and 500ml bottles in the UK by working with its supplier Spectra Packaging. The company said that its manufacturing sites in Germany and Croatia have also rolled out Prevented Ocean Plastic across these sizes, with Lush North America and Japan following suit later this year, working with their local bottle manufacturers.
The 1L bottles are still in transition across all markets but will be introduced later this year, which LUSH said will enable the company to roll Prevented Ocean Plastic out globally.
According to LUSH, the plastic for the clear bottles has been collected within 50km of an ocean coastline or major waterway in Indonesia, where it would have been at risk of entering and polluting oceans if it were not collected and recycled.
There, the plastic is collected and then taken to the collection centres before going through the recyclers, to packaging manufacturers for material distribution for LUSH and other retailers for branding and use.
Further, LUSH noted that the POP programme’s traceability mechanism across its recycled plastic supply chain enables it to track the raw material from the communities where it originates through to the sorting and recycling centres where it is processed.
Indonesia has been identified as an at-risk area due to the country’s lack of waste management and recycling infrastructure. The combination of tourism, a growing population and the lack of collective incentives create a significant risk of plastic contamination to the wildlife and their ecosystems.
In addition to this, developed countries, which generate more plastic waste per capita, are exporting recyclable materials to developing countries, which the company said lack the effective waste collection and management systems needed.
“Seeing how much impact the Prevented Ocean Plastic™ Programme has had on the communities in areas at high risk of plastic pollution, being part of preventing tonnes of plastic from entering the oceans as well as improving transparency of the supply chain is very much fulfilling our Lusher than we found it statement,” commented Karolina Michalska, Creative Buying, LUSH.
The company shared that, in addition to the Prevented Ocean Plastic initiative, LUSH also has a Bring it Back scheme, where customers can return packaging from LUSH products to be “responsibly recycled.” Since 2021, 2.27 million individual items have been returned and diverted from waste.
