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.

SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

The Body Shop has been a leader in social and environmental justice for over 40 years. We’re dedicated to being the most ethical, sustainable, inclusive and inspiring company we can be. The more we grow, and the more we engage with our customers and others, the bigger the difference we can make to people’s lives and preserving the health of our planet. We report on our sustainability progress annually. In the interests of transparency and enhanced accountability, we also provide additional data on our economic, environmental and social sustainability performance in line with global reporting frameworks.

ABOUT OUR REFILL SCHEME

Let's clean up our act to clean up the planet. And it starts with a refill revolution.

In 2019, we relaunched our pioneering product refill scheme in two new concept stores. Now we’re rolling out refill stations and plan to have this in 500 stores globally by the end of 2022. Want to know more? Check out the link below where you’ll also find our store finder.

Find your nearest refill store, pop in, pick up an aluminium bottle and refill, reuse, repeat.

COMMUNITY FAIR TRADE RECYCLED PLASTICS

In 2019 we launched our Community Fair Trade recycled plastic programme. We source plastic from marginalised 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.

RECYCLED MATERIALS IN PACKAGING

We’re using more PCR in our PACKAGING AND are gradually eliminating virgin plastic.

Today, nearly all our PET plastic product packaging contains 100% recycled material, and a significant proportion of this comes from community fair trade material through our partner, Plastics for Change.

In 2020 29% of our total plastics use was from recycled material.

Our longer-term aim is to develop a circular model for our packaging, and we are committed to 100% of our packaging being recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025.

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 and 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. Sign up here to join the movement and get your MP to act: