In order to reduce its plastic use, The Body Shop rolled out refill stations across 400 of its stores globally throughout 2021 and it is launching a further 400 in 2022.

Plastic is ubiquitous in today's society. A great amount of plastic is specifically flowing into the packaging industry. However, economic and technical limitations cause most plastic packaging to have a linear and unsustainable life, often characterized by a very short use phase.

The Body Shop aims at reducing its plastic use by selling refillable aluminium bottles through a simple and user friendly refill programme. To incentivize customers to join the programme, the company combines environmental and economic benefits as each refill contains an extra 50ml of product for free.

To join the movement customers must simply:

1. purchase an aluminium bottle at selected stores.

2. ask a member of the team to fill it up with their favorite refillable haircare, shower gel or hand wash

3. pay for the product, bring it home, and redo the same thing once the bottle is empty.

The bottle has a cost of three pounds.

According to The Body Shop, switch to refill could save over 25 tonnes of plastic in 20 months.