The Body Shop packaging exec: Refillable models tackle waste and climate change

29 Nov 2021 --- Refillable packaging is essential to simultaneously reducing waste and carbon footprint, says William Connolly, head of packaging innovation and sustainability at The Body Shop. Speaking ahead of Packaging Innovations in London, UK, this week (December 1-2), Connolly sits down with PackagingInsights to explore the cosmetics company’s various avenues to more environmentally sustainable packaging. 

Although recycling is “extremely important” to The Body Shop, the company is also refocusing around refillable product schemes. In 2019, it introduced a refillable 250 ml aluminum bottle for a choice of eight shower gels. This year, it launched refill stations across 500 stores globally, with a further 300 stores planned for 2022.

“We believe refill is a major step to get to a ‘best of both worlds’ approach reducing carbon footprint and waste. The Body Shop was a pioneer of this process in its early days, and we want to continue to lead in this space,” explains Connolly.

“We will not get to 100% in-store refill overnight, however. We also need to think about multi-channel distribution systems and traditional products, both of which will require packaging. Recyclability and the recycled materials are key to these products.”

“Our biggest challenges are small, complex, multi-component structures such as pumps and some cosmetic packs. We are working on designing these with either single materials for recycling or by creating refillable solutions.”

According to Innova Market Insights, the majority of global consumers (52%) believe reusable packaging is an environmentally sustainable model, above recyclable (50%) and recycled (39%), biodegradable (31%) and compostable (24%).William Connolly, head of packaging innovation and sustainability at The Body Shop.

The rise of refill
Reusable and refillable packaging are increasingly recognized as crucial to waste reduction and carbon reductions by NGOs and regulatory bodies. The European Commission has addressed increasing packaging consumption (a record high 173 kg per inhabitant in 2017) by incentivizing reuse design, including restrictions on single-use applications where reusable alternatives are possible.

However, some NGOs are concerned reusable packaging models are still underutilized. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recently identified “alarmingly” low reusable packaging growth in its 2021 Global Progress Report.

To date, The Body Shop has focused on establishing refillable schemes for shower gels and shampoos, which are robust to hygiene issues. “They also have a liquid form lending itself to refill dosing, making delivery systems practical,” explains Connolly.

On the flip side, products more sensitive to contamination or solid in form can present more significant challenges.

“These products are unlikely to be suitable for bulk refill systems hence we need to design specific refill packs for them. The challenge is ensuring these packs do not bring their own issues, such as lack of recyclability or the need for additional transport packaging.”The Body Shop introduced a refillable 250 ml aluminum bottle for shower gels.

Reinforcing recyclability
The Body Shop is gradually working to ensure all its packaging is 100% recyclable, including all bath, body and hair care products by 2025. Currently, the cosmetics company says more than 68% of its packaging can “technically be recycled.”

Moreover, the company previously set a target to use PET packaging containing 75% recycled content on average by 2022. Connolly confirms this target has already been met, with almost all of The Body Shop’s PET packaging now made from 100% recycled content.

“We now have a more aggressive target across the Natura group (The Body Shop’s brand owner) of 50% recycled content in all plastic materials by 2030, although The Body Shop is confident of reaching that target significantly ahead of the deadline,” he comments.

The Body Shop has taken steps to manage the “regular shortages” in the challenging recycled plastic market by partnering with Plastics for Change, creating a source of community fair trade plastics in India. Plastics for Change is one of the world’s largest sources of fair trade-verified recycled plastic.

“This [partnership] supports our social goals, helping the waste pickers in the community but also creating a reliable source [of recycled plastic supply] less dependent on the European market conditions,” notes Connolly.

On-pack messaging
The cosmetics company is also engaging with consumers on-pack to encourage effective recycling behavior.

“All our new body butter and hair care packaging has ‘don’t break the cycle’ messaging molded into the plastic and we are working on more detailed messaging for our website,” continues Connolly.The cosmetic company’s new body butter packs include “don’t break the cycle” messaging to encourage recycling.

“[However,] one challenge is local conditions and recycling rules vary so much in different parts of the world hence it is tough to give correct advice on a global product.”

A word on biodegradable
Connolly adds that there will be a secondary focus for compostable and biodegradable packaging at The Body Shop, especially for products unlikely to get recycled.

“There may be a place for degradable packaging for products unlikely to get recycled, providing a safety net if they do escape into the environment, but this is not the target outcome. We want to keep the value of packaging materials in the supply chain,” he explains.

“We see compostable and biodegradable materials as a relatively small part of our future due to the lack of end-of-life infrastructure for circularity.”

Connolly will be taking part in a panel discussion during Packaging Innovations. He is looking to discover more about environmentally sustainable materials and refill models during the event.

By Joshua Poole