This week, Lush Cosmetics staff from select shops across the country wore nothing but their signature black aprons as they urged consumers not to turn the other cheek to the devastating environmental impact of packaging pollution and buy ‘naked’ products instead.
"As a company, we tend to go all the way for causes we believe in," said Brandi Halls, Director of Brand Communications. "If flashing our bums inspires consumers and industry to reconsider their packaging practices, then we’d say it’s definitely worth a few blushes."
The stunt marks ten years since Lush first stripped down to expose the problem of excess packaging in the cosmetics and retail industries, which contribute to more than two percent of overall greenhouse gases and over eight percent of the world’s oil resources. Virgin plastic packaging is a major pollutant of the world’s oceans, accounting for almost 300,000 tons of floating debris and 80 percent of litter collected from beaches during nationwide surveys and clean-ups.
"Most of the plastic that has ever been produced still exists today, which is why it’s high time for businesses across all industries to take responsibility and present new generations of consumers with eco-friendly alternatives," said Halls.
Innovators by nature, over 35 percent of Lush products are now fully ‘naked’, meaning they require absolutely no packaging, living up to the company’s goal to create as little waste as possible. Customer naked favourites including Lush’s famous bath bombs, massage bars, gourmet soaps, body butters and shampoo bars, are formulated with as little water as possible to allow for a solid form and have the added benefit of requiring no synthetic preservatives to stay fresh; products with truly nothing to hide.
As a result, last year alone just over two million plastic bottles were not manufactured, transported and disposed of because customers chose to buy Lush’s solid shampoo bars instead of a bottled product.
For those liquid products which do require packaging, all Lush pots and bottles are made from 100% post-consumer recyclable plastics. In 2016, this initiative drove 35 tons of plastic away from landfills - heavy producers of toxic substances such as methane gas and leachate. Lush encourages its customers to recycle by gifting them a free fresh face mask when they bring back five clean, black pots. Once the pots are returned to a store, they’re sent back to Vancouver where they are ground down, remoulded and reused. All plastic for new pots is sourced from curbside blue bins in British Columbia, Washington state, California and Oregon.
Fighting environmental issues is nothing new to Lush. Since 2007, the brand’s Charitable Giving program has supported almost 350 environmental groups, through the sales of Charity Pot; a luxurious hand and body lotion ($7.95-$27.95), where 100 percent of the price (minus tax) is donated to small grassroots organizations that align with Lush’s ethics in the areas of environmental conservation, animal welfare and human rights. Since launching the Charity Pot program, Lush has donated more than $17 million to 1400+ grassroots charities in 42 countries from North American funding alone.
About Lush’s Environmental Footprint:
- All of Lush’s paper bags, cardboard boxes and reusable tins are made from recycled materials.
- Naked products are better for the environment - they are unpackaged, concentrated, last longer and weigh less than water-filled bottled liquids which take more energy to transport.
- Products bought online are distributed in packing peanuts called Renature, which are made from vegetable starch. 100 percent biodegradable, these cushiony protectors are water soluble, compostable and completely odourless. They keep shipped items safe and can be tossed into a compost bin or washed down the drain without harming the environment.
- Several years ago Lush stopped offering traditional gift wrapping in store, in favor of reusable fabric knot-wraps. These are either made from a material created from recycled plastic bottles, or from organic cotton and can be reused again and again for gift wrapping, decorating or as an accessory.
Now it’s your turn to go NAKED!
