Our Sustainability Commitments
“Social and environmental dimensions are woven into the fabric of the company itself. They are neither first not last among our objectives, but an ongoing part of everything we do."
- Dame Anita Roddick
This is what we’re doing to fight for a fairer, more beautiful world and how you can help.
Community fair Trade recycled plastics
In 2019 we launched our Community Fair Trade recycled plastic program. We source plastic from marginalized waste pickers in India, offering a fair price, steady income and better working conditions in an informal sector that’s often volatile and discriminatory.
In our first year we purchased 250 tonnes of Community Fair Trade recycled plastic, which we’ve used in shampoo and conditioner bottles. By the end of 2021, we aim to purchase over 900 tonnes of Community Fair Trade recycled plastic.
We’re contributing to reducing existing waste while driving positive social change.
Vegan and Vegetarian beauty
100% Vegan. We’re on our way there.
The whole process of going vegan takes a bit of homework. The truth is there’s a lot of weird stuff the industry isn’t in a hurry to tell you. Beauty ingredients can be baffling. You should be joyfully slathering yourself in our products, not puzzling over labels to check they align with your values. That’s our job. We know that you just want to feel your best, so we are pledging to take care of the rest.
Currently our product formulations are 100% vegetarian and 60% vegan. Now we’ve decided to step it up a notch. We’re delighted to let you know that by the end of 2023, our entire product formulations portfolio will be certified by The Vegan Society. *
Cruelty free
We want to ban the cruel practice of animal testing in cosmetics. forever.
We’ve been fighting for the rights of animals since 1989. Approximately 80% of countries currently have no laws around animal testing, and together with our friends at Cruelty Free International, our Forever Against Animal Testing campaign is working towards a worldwide ban on animal tested cosmetics… forever.
On October 4th, 2018, World Animal Day, The Body Shop and Cruelty Free International took 8.3 million signatures against cosmetic animal testing to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, to create a global framework to end animal testing while advancing the United Nations’ sustainable development agenda. The petition signatures, collected from supporters around the world in just 15 months, call on the countries of the UN to formalize an international framework to end cosmetic animal testing, everywhere and forever.
In 2021, The Body Shop with Cruelty Free International has joined Dove and PETA to pressure the European Commission to ensure that the 2013 ban on animal testing is upheld with the introduction of new EU regulations on chemical testing.
Return, Recycle, Repeat
We’ve partnered with Scan2Recycle an MYGroup to help properly recycle or repurpose your old beauty packaging. We take those hard to recycle items that your local recycling scheme can’t take, like those pesky pumps, plastic pouches and pipettes, small bottles that are less than 50ml, lip gloss tubes and mascaras.
And the best bit, it’s now available in all UK stores* with an aim to be in 800 stores across 14 countries by the end of 2022. And we don’t plan on stopping there.
*Excludes London Bridge, Birmingham New Street Station, Stansted Airport and Edinburgh Airport.
Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill
We are thrilled to be part of the Steering Group for The Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill. The Bill, which is being led through Parliament by The Big Issue founder, Lord Bird, will tackle the climate crisis, poverty, and pandemics head on in the future if passed into law.
For us to protect future generations, we need to make a change and the #TodayForTomorrow campaign, powered by The Big Issue is backing the bill to do exactly that. Together, we can give a voice to future generations.