The Body Shop has gone beyond hair care, shower gels and hand soaps to include makeup in its product refill program, which prevented more than half a million plastic bottles from entering the environment in 2022 alone. Peptalk Lipstick, which now comes in a refillable case made from 100% recycled aluminum, is enriched with Community Fair Trade shea butter and is available in 20 shades.
The retailer, a certified B Corporation, began an ambitious five-year plan in 2021 to roll out refill stations in a majority of its stores, with the target of saving 25 tons of plastic annually. The stations are now available in 800 stores worldwide and, after bringing the program to its U.S. stores in April 2022, The Body Shop has stations in 50% of its U.S. footprint.
“We want our customers to understand first and foremost that they can be changemakers and that even small individual acts, like refilling your shampoo or shower gel in a reusable container, can have a big impact on our planet,” said Hilary Lloyd, VP of Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility at The Body Shop North America in a statement.
While consumers’ desire for convenience remains a barrier to widespread adoption of these types of programs, eco-conscious shoppers have boosted The Body Shop’s refill adoption rates in the U.S.: sales of refillable products increased 65% throughout 2022, and the program is most popular among consumers aged 16 to 34.
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“Young people are cognizant of what’s at stake for the planet, which is why they’re embracing The Body Shop’s ambitious sustainability agenda,” added Lloyd.
Via its Community Fair Trade partner, Plastics for Change, The Body Shop also is working with waste pickers in Bengaluru, India to remove plastics from the streets while providing livable wages and better working conditions in a sector that’s often volatile and discriminatory. Since beginning the partnership in 2019, Plastics for Change has collected 4.4 million pounds of plastic waste, equivalent to 100 million plastic bottles.
