Lush launches new ‘Bring It Back’ recycling scheme

Beauty retailer Lush is looking to reward customers to recycle their used packaging with a ‘Bring It Back’ deposit scheme to encourage shoppers to shop waste-free. 

The new packaging returns initiative is like a deposit scheme, explained the retailer. The customer borrows the packaging and then they get their deposit back to spend on their favourite Lush products when they bring it back to their local Lush shop.

The scheme enables customers to bring back any full-sized Lush plastic packaging to their local Lush shop to be recycled, and for each plastic Lush item returned, customers will receive a 50p deposit to spend on their Lush basket that day. 

The returned packaging will then be sent to the Greenhub, Lush’s UK recycling hub, where packaging is processed and sent to its UK partners to be remoulded into new black Lush pots, or used as industry feedstock material.

Lush co-founder and product inventor, Rowena Bird, said in a press release: “We are the difference in the cosmetic industry, we have the ideas and the passion, it’s then about making those ideas a reality by getting everyone to join in. So spread the word, let’s put some positivity into plastic, after all it’s not plastic that’s the baddy, we’re the baddies when we don’t reduce, reuse and recycle it! Don’t be a baddy, be a Lushie and claim your 50p deposit!”

Lush introduces deposit scheme to encourage plastic recycling

The move builds on Lush’s pre-existing fresh face mask scheme, which rewards customers who bring back five items of Lush plastic packaging in exchange for a fresh mask. The existing scheme has resulted in more than 500,000 pot being returned to Lush’s Greenhub each year.

Lush explains that the majority of plastic packaging it uses is from recycled and recyclable plastic. However, the beauty retailer wants to take even more ownership of their plastic packaging and ensure their bottles, pots and tubs are given new life.

Rae Stanton-Smithson, Lush Earthcare, added: “We are working hard to offer people the ultimate waste-free shopping experience. We continue to invent revolutionary naked products, unique packaging materials, work on reusable plastic packaging items as well as looking into refilling options for the future. This recycling scheme is another step on our path to leaving the world Lusher than we found it.

“By moving towards a deposit-style scheme, whereby Lush customers know that they are ‘renting’ the packaging and can simply return it when they are finished, we keep the responsibility of waste-reduction and resource recycling as a company responsibility. All we need our customers to do is simply return their empties to us – we’ll take care of the rest.”

Image: courtesy of Lush