Bring It Back: The Lush way to recycle
The most important link in closing the loop on our packaging is you! Bring back your Lush plastic packaging to your nearest shop and help us keep materials in circulation.
We know what you’re thinking — Recycling isn’t enough when we are up to our necks in plastic waste! It’s true, we cannot recycle our way out of the climate crisis, but taking responsibility for the packaging we create as a business is an important step in the evolution towards a circular economy.
If you can, buy naked. The next best thing is to bring Lush plastic packaging back to us. We give the material a new life, and for our black, clear and white pots we have even managed to close the loop so they can be turned into new pots!
How our take-back scheme works
Our Bring It Back recycling scheme invites our customers in the UK&I to return any of their Lush plastic packaging back to our shops for recycling. Not only that but as a thank you for helping us keep our plastic going and going, we offer a choice of rewards:
1) You can claim 50p/c towards your Lush shopping per full-size qualifying item returned or 5p/c per item when you return the 10ml sample pots. This amount will be taken off your total bill at the till-point on the same day or if you are in the UK, you can save it for your next shop via your Lush Wallet in the Lush App (Ireland coming soon!)
2) Prefer a fresh face mask instead? You got it! Just return 5 full-sized qualifying items and choose your fresh face mask from the ones available in the store.
For the in-depth lowdown on what packaging items qualify for the scheme and further Terms & Conditions, click here.
What is the Lush Wallet and how does it work?
The Lush Wallet is a UK-only feature of the Lush Club and a home for all your Lush funds, where you can combine gift card balances, top up credits instantly using a debit card, save Bring It Back credit and pay easily in-store or use against in-app purchases.
To add Bring it Back credits to spend later, simply download the Lush App, create an account, opt in to Lush Wallet, click Bring it Back and show your QR code at the check out.Your credits will appear straight away for you to spend whenever you like.
Is this a new scheme?
We have been using fully recycled and recyclable polypropylene (PP) to create our iconic black pots since 2008. Wanting to really close the loop, we launched our first take-back scheme in 2009 — inviting recycling-savvy Lush fans to return their empty black pots. That’s when we introduced our popular offer: bring back 5 empty pots in exchange for a free face mask.
However, when we learnt that only around 9-12% of plastic is recycled globally, we wanted to do more to encourage our customers and staff to return their empties to us so they could be recycled. In 2021 the new and improved Bring it Back packaging return scheme was launched and expanded, including all plastic packaging and offer a 50p/c reward.
Now we take a step further. With Lush Club and Lush Wallet, we can offer even more benefits for bringing qualifying plastic packaging back to a UK Lush store.
All full-sized Lush plastic pots, bottles and tubs qualify for both money-off and 5 for a fresh face mask rewards.
What happens when you bring back eligible plastic packaging?
In the UK and Ireland, when Lush plastic packaging is sent back to our Green Hub, Lush’s recycling hub in Poole, Dorset, it is sorted, processed and sent to our UK partners to be recycled into new Lush pots or used as plastic feedstock materials (extra supplies) for other industries,
You can learn more about the Green Hub by reading our latest report here.
What about Lush fans outside of the UK and Ireland?
We aim to ensure we have packaging recycling options for all of our retail outlets around the world and have launched similar schemes in many of our global markets. Each part of the world has different specifications for what can be recycled and what can’t, so please check with your local shop for the terms and conditions.
Why use black plastic?
It’s no secret, black plastic can cause problems for some recycling facilities whose machinery can have trouble detecting and sorting it. So why do we use it? By choosing black recycled plastic we are able to use 100% post-consumer recycled feedstock very easily. This is because we do not have to be too choosy over the colours of the feedstock we use and can incorporate many different sources of recycled PP plastic into the Lush pot mix. In the last years, we have been using more clear and white options but it is much harder to get quality post-consumer recycled plastic in those colours.
The most responsible choice we can make is to get as much of our plastic packaging as possible into a loop we can control. By using a deposit-style scheme, whereby Lush customers purchase their products, knowing that they are ‘renting’ the packaging and can simply return it when they are finished, we keep the recycling as our responsibility.
This project is a big step in our mission to leave the world Lusher than we found it, and we invite you all to join us!
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