Ethical beauty brand Lush has been awarded its first Carbon Neutral certification for its eco-friendly Cork Pot.
The packaging was first introduced in 2017 and designed to house its shampoo bars.
Its material is sourced from oak bark in southern Portugal, and originally launched as a philanthropic effort the support to wider regeneration of cork oak forests in the country.
The certification verified that each 35g Cork Pot sequesters over 33 times its weight in carbon dioxide, removing approximately 1.2kg CO2 from the atmosphere, according to Lush.
“When Lush started working with cork, we knew the material was very capable of sequestering greenhouse gases from the atmosphere,” said Simon Brewer and Ben Davis from Lush’s Environmental Impact Team.
“But we didn’t realise just how much until we came to study it more closely and found that a Cork Pot was actually removing more CO2 than it was emitting over its lifecycle.”
Bark is a non-timber product and is harvested by stripping off the trees in a rotating system before it grows back nine years later, when it can be harvested again.
This process, Lush claims, does not harm the trees and is said to encourage wildlife.
The Carbon Trust’s Associate Director, John Newton added: “The transition to a net zero economy presents businesses with both the opportunity to develop innovative products that are appealing to consumers and differentiate their brand in the market.”
“Lush’s 35g Cork Pots are exactly the kind of innovative approach to packaging that addresses these needs and we are delighted to certify that they achieved carbon neutrality.”
Meanwhile, Lush’s Creative Buyer Nick Gumery added: “This is the future of packaging.”
To discover more new and innovative materials for your packaging, join the Cosmetics Business Packaging Live conference which will be held in Barcelona on 8 - 9 October 2019.
