As a beauty editor, I receive a *lot* of post. In fact, it's not uncommon for 15 different parcels to land on my desk every day. It's part and parcel to the job and allows me to stay at the forefront of the latest product innovations and upcoming trends, and of course, it means I can test everything out in order to provide meaningful advice to GLAMOUR readers. However, it also means I spend a fair chunk of my day elbows deep in packaging, much of which, is plastic.
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A post shared by WWF International(@wwf) on Feb 27, 2019 at 8:51am PST
Nothing, and I repeat - nothing, annoys me more than receiving a heavy duty cardboard box, stuffed with a pass the parcel of bubble wrap and polystyrene floats, only to reveal one single beauty product, that would have most likely survived the perils of the postal service in nothing but a paper envelope.
The reason it annoys me so much, besides the fact it wastes so much time unpacking it, is because it acts as an unrelenting reminder of how far we still have to go to tackle plastic pollution, how thoughtless we can still be when it comes to everyday tasks, and how much awareness evidently still needs to be raised.
I'm not saying I expect brands to suddenly cleanse themselves of all plastic. I understand that these things take time, and require resources and research to develop economically viable alternatives. But it's the mindless over-consumption that I find hard to tolerate.
It's the same when I leaf through products on the shelves of supermarkets and beauty halls. I see so many brands that have made leaps and bounds towards becoming more sustainable and proudly showcase new-and-improved packaging that either features far less plastic or else is recyclable. Other brands have started offering a refilling service where they invite customers to come and top up their empty bottles with their favourite formulas rather than buying new bottles altogether. And superstar brands have ditched packaging altogether in a totally naked approach (Lush, we love you).
There's also empties-reward schemes, where customers are rewarded in some way for bringing back their empty bottles, which the brand then sends to specialist recycling centres. And that's just off the top of my head - there are innumerable ways to help alleviate the issue, so for a brand to sit back and not do anything is, in my view, reprehensible.
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So, if your brand isn't making an effort - if you're not even *trying* to remedy the situation on *some* level, then that needs to change, not least because the consumer is changing and you'll soon have to answer to them, but because, quite simply, we are running out of time. And there is no back-up planet.
Original article on GLAMOUR UK. Read the full article here.
