BRITISH BEAUTY BRAND LUSH HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MEMBER OF TEAM GREEN!
17th June 2010 – Green Britain Day
Green Britain Day takes place on Thursday 17th June 2010 and will kick off a summer of events aimed at encouraging us all to think and act greener. Since its inception in 1995, LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics has been an extremely environmentally minded and bold company, doing the right things for the right reasons; such as developing their own unique Supplier Specific Boycott policy against animal testing, buying fresh organic ingredients and making products by hand.
Hot off the wheels of Green Britain Day comes Team Green Britain Bike Week on Monday 19th June. Lush also believe in campaigning and communicating with our customers the benefits of sustainable transport, while also having a lot of fun.
On 1st June 2010, Lush Cosmetics staff embarked on a nationwide cycle journey that will encompass each and every Lush store in the UK. Those who can’t ride a bike are using more imaginative forms of sustainable transport like walking, pogo-hopping, stilt-walking and space hoping! They are doing this in support of sustainable transport charity Sustrans’ fourth annual Change Your World campaign – a movement encouraging people to consider alternative, sustainable modes of transport for local journeys. Taking the form of a relay race, but with the emphasis on participation rather than winning, the journey takes in all areas of the UK and finishes on 22nd June at Lush Cosmetic headquarters in Poole, Dorset.
In conjunction with this relay race, Lush has also launching a limited edition Cyclists’ Repair Kit (£9.95). Available throughout the month of June only, this kit contains six fresh handmade cosmetics to repair and rejuvenate tired cyclists.
2010 also marks Lush’s 15th anniversary and we are as committed today to reducing our environmental impact and staying true to our ethics as we were all those years ago. Here are some other ways that Lush are helping make it easier for you to be green…
Packaging - Lush offer a whole raft of environmental and animal friendly products, over half of which are solid. Our innovative range of solid products allow minimal or no preservatives and packaging, which means less waste heading to landfill. 67% of our current product range is ‘naked’ and in 2009, in the UK alone, we sold over 5.9 million naked items. 200,000 of these items were shampoo bars, meaning that 15 tonnes of plastic was avoided.
Lush shampoo bars are small, convenient, easy to carry and easy to use. Use them just like soap to effectively clean the hair of everyday dirt and grime. Each bar lasts for over 80 washes, the equivalent of 3 bottles of 250g shampoo, which is both kinder for the environment and your wallet. Choose from ten varieties, including Squeaky Green (£4.65) (see image). Lush’s other solid products include bathballistics, bubble bars, body butters, massage bars, cleansers, sugar scrubs and soap.
Recycling – When packaging is unavoidable, we prefer to use recycled materials. 90%, by weight, of our packaging material is recycled and we're working on the remaining 10%. We like our packaging to be reused, recycled or composted at the end of their lives and aim to have 100% of our packaging recyclable or compostable. To encourage customers to return all their Lush black pots to us for recycling, we offer one of our lovely bio-fresh facemasks (of their choice) for free when they return five. So re-cycle and re-fresh your skincare regime all at the same time! Black pots are recycled or re-used as art material.
Charity Pot - Being green and environmentally aware doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend a fortune, or give up all your favourite luxury products. Lush’s Charity Pot project (where all proceeds of the product, minus the VAT, go to charities) also enables fantastic support for grass root causes in areas such as conservation, transport, environmental issues, animal rescue and protection and human rights. Sales of our Charity Pot hand and body lotion (£12.50) has gone to groups such as the Sumatran Orangutan Society; Plane Stupid; Reprieve; Sea Shepherd; The Animal Protection Agency and The Fresh Start Foundation.
To pick up lots of ethical, cruelty free cosmetics visit Lush shops nationwide. For shop details and mail order, please call 01202 668 545, or order on-line at www.lush.co.uk
For further information, samples or photographic images, please contact Karen Huxley, Gina Walker or Stephanie Boyd on 020 7434 3948 or [email protected] ; [email protected] or [email protected]