Beauty brands have changed the face of the industry by incorporating eco-friendly products and ideas to help eliminate waste in people’s daily routine.
A New Zealand-based company, Ethique, is the first of its kind make products that are all free of plastic containers.
At the company’s conception five years ago, it provided conditioner and shampoo bars for customers. The brand has since grown to also include facial cleansers, deodorant, body wash, scrubs and self tanners.
Waste-free: Ethique is a New Zealand-based company and first launched in five years ago. It provides products without the plastic bottle
Innovative: The company is one of the first of its kind to provide all of its products in an eco-friendly way
Founder and CEO Brienne West was in her second year of college studying a Bachelor of Science degree when she discovered she could create shampoo bars.
This discovery encouraged the biologist to see what other beauty products she could devise that would remain in solid bar form.
‘My first light bulb moment was learning 80 billion plastic bottles end up in landfills each year — just from shampoo and conditioner alone,’ West told Bustle.
‘I was studying biochemistry at University and began digging in. I taught myself cosmetic chemistry, researching what each ingredient does and how to build a product.’
Her research has since paid off as she was able to launch Ethique with four shampoos and one conditioner made in bar form.
Now, the company is on track to achieve a monumental goal of preventing one million plastic bottles from getting created and ending up in a landfill by the end of 2018.
Simple: The product line includes shampoo, conditioner and facial cleansers. All which just require the addition of water to work
Supporter: Lush Cosmetics introduced a new bath bomb to raise awareness of the amount of plastic pollution that is dumped into the oceans
Lush Cosmetics is another company that has introduced shampoo bars into its extensive lists of products to help eliminate the amount of plastic it uses.
The company was also the first to introduce biodegradable glitter into its products so that each item would not leave a harmful footprint on the planet.
In its most recent eco-friendly campaign, Lush created a Turtle Jelly Bomb. This new bath bomb is shaped like a sea turtle and when fizzing will create a strings of agar seaweed to symbolize the impact of plastic pollution on the ocean.
The goal of the bath bomb is to raise awareness of the environmental impact of plastic on the creatures and nature around us.
Eco-friendly: Companies such as Kiehl’s and MAC Cosmetics allow their customers to return the empty containers to the store to help with recycling
Earth friendly: EcoStardust provides its customers with an option to be glittered up with biodegradable glitter that won’t have a leave a harmful footprint on the environment
Other beauty companies have offered ways for people to recycle their plastic containers in order to eliminate chances that they end up in landfills.
Both Kiehl’s and MAC Cosmetics offer an option for people to return their containers directly to the store to recycle.
After turning in 10 products to Kiehl’s, the company offers one travel-sized product for free. MAC Cosmetics offers a free lipstick after a customer turns in six empty containers.
Origins takes the initiative one step further by allowing customers to turn in empty containers from any company into their stores.
Besides eliminating plastic waste, some beauty companies are insuring that the ingredients they use will not damage parts of the ocean.
EcoStardust introduced its own line of products for those who are glitter obsessed that are also biodegradable. Companies such as Drunk Elephant, Avene and Coola all use ingredients that are safe for the ocean.
Since World Ocean Day was last Friday, these companies offer an opportunity for people to celebrate protecting the ecosystem by incorporating eco-friendly products into the beauty routine.