Plastic pollution is a massive problem: more than a billion tons of plastic waste will end up in oceans or in landfill by 2040. The beauty industry is one of many contributors to plastic waste, but it’s a complex issue that doesn’t have a simple solution. One option is to treat plastic trash as a raw material, explains Mark Davis, who runs the Community Fair Trade program at beauty company The Body Shop. The program is an ethical sourcing initiative that was founded in 1987 and now makes up around 25% of the company’s ingredients budget, where the company procures ingredients like shea butter from Ghana and items such as paper gift boxes from Nepal.
Waste-pickers in some developing countries make a living by trading trash in an informal industry that can be dangerous and dirty. The Body Shop is working with sourcing company Plastics For Change to help it procure plastic, while providing better conditions for workers. Sourcing plastic like this is an initiative that has taken a while to come to fruition: it took five years to build the supply chain and get to the point where the raw material met The Body Shop’s needs, before it could be turned into plastic granules and made into packaging.
Demand for plastic may vary less than for ingredients, but The Body Shop guaranteed it would buy a certain amount of plastic in its first year. In 2020, it will buy 500 tonnes (551 tons) via Plastics For Change and by 2021, that figure will reach 600 tonnes. The Body Shop has put Plastics For Change in touch with competitors and also Ikea, Davis said. “They are already cutting deals with them on how they can use … (all) kinds of plastics.”
Source: CNBC
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