LUSH Cosmetics launches national campaign to ban plastic bags
Sydney - /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ - Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch - campaigning for a ban on plastic shopping bags in all cities throughout New Zealand and Australia, LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics is sending giant bag monsters to descend on lunchtime shoppers, urging them to swap their plastic shopping bags for a free, reusable, eco-friendly tote bag. Each bag monster, which resembles a walking, talking plastic landfill heap, is made of 350 plastic bags - the amount of bags an average family of four (4) will use in just three months. Other protestors will be holding placards that read Starve the bag monster - ban plastic bags! while handing out educational leaflets to passers-by.
Date:Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Time:Noon sharp
Location:
outside Lush Old Bank Wellington, Shop LG 1.5
Old Bank Arcade Lambton Quay
Queen St Auckland, Shop 1 Ground floor Landmark
House 189 Queen St Auckland, and;
Cashel Mall Christchurch, Shop 110 Cashel St, Cashel Mall
Christchurch.
Why does LUSH want to trash plastic bags? New Zealanders use approximately 1 billion petroleum-based shopping bags each year. Plastic makes up 7% of New Zealands waste stream by weight and plastic bags just seem to be everywhere - they litter our streets, they harm the environment, and they kill wildlife. While plastic bags get used for less than an hour, they can take up to 1,000 years to break down in the environment.
LUSH is proud of its policy against plastic carrier bags and we want to see Government, other retailers, and our customers support a campaign to get them out of our cities. Starting 2 July 2008 customers can come in-store to find out more information and sign a petition to the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, urging them to ban plastic bags and promote the only truly sustainable alternative - reusable canvas tote bags. A national petition will also go live on Animals Australias website for customers who want to take part but do not live close to a LUSH store.
Similar initiatives have been successful around the world. This month China imposed a tax on single use plastic bags and banned them from all public transportation, including buses, trains and planes and from airports and scenic locations. In April 2008, South Australia announced a ban of plastic bags from large supermarkets, while last year San Francisco banned plastic bags from all supermarkets and pharmacies and the Irish government introduced a plastic bag tax that has slashed consumption by over 90%. Paris, Great Britain, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, and others have all banned or are moving towards reducing the use of plastic bags.
Campaigning against plastic bags is a natural extension of LUSHs work in leading retailers to tackle waste. Over 50 percent of LUSH products are sold to the customer naked, with no packaging at all, and the company has recently become the first major cosmetics retailer to switch over to manufacturing using only 100% recycled plastic bottles and containers.
While single-use plastic bags are given away to customers for free, its always the environment that pays the true cost of our disposal culture, says Mark Lincoln, Managing Director Lush Australasia Retail Pty Ltd. The two things people should take when shopping are their wallets and their reusable tote bag.
He added We hope that New Zealand residents will join us in encouraging Environment and Green Leaders to ban plastic bags in the countries cities. Christchurch City Council has been using a kerbside method of recycling bags since 2004, we want to see these types of initiatives taken steps forward.
- ends -
Media Contact: Casey Weathers (Lush press office): +61 (0) 417 479 123; casey@lush.com.au
Notes to editor: * In conjunction with the naked Campaign and to encourage a fair trade, cotton canvas reusable bag. This 100% cotton canvas bag is made by socially disadvantaged women in India using natural textiles.
* LUSH has never used plastic carrier bags, and has just replaced its remaining small plastic bags used to package
individual pieces of product with 100% recycled paper bags.
* LUSH products are handmade in Australia using fresh fruit and vegetables and the finest essential oils. Our products are: 100% vegetarian / 74% vegan / 65% preservative-free / 58% free of wasteful packaging made adhering to our no animal testing policy on products or ingredients. Lush support Fair Trade programs and small farms to supply raw materials.
* All of Lushs paper bags, cardboard boxes and reusable tins are made from recycled materials. The new Australian Lush manufacturing facility is now using only 100% recycled clear bottles, pots and pot lids and delivering these to our Stores.
* Naked products are better for the environment they are unpackaged, concentrated, last longer and weigh less than water-filled bottled liquids which take more energy to transport. For example, one truck load of Lushs solid shampoo bars would be enough for 800,000 washes but it would take 15 truck loads of liquid shampoo to do the same job. That means more pollution, and a much bigger carbon footprint.
Source:
Lush Fresh Homemade Cosmetics
Sydney - /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ - Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch - campaigning for a ban on plastic shopping bags in all cities throughout New Zealand and Australia, LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics is sending giant bag monsters to descend on lunchtime shoppers, urging them to swap their plastic shopping bags for a free, reusable, eco-friendly tote bag. Each bag monster, which resembles a walking, talking plastic landfill heap, is made of 350 plastic bags - the amount of bags an average family of four (4) will use in just three months. Other protestors will be holding placards that read Starve the bag monster - ban plastic bags! while handing out educational leaflets to passers-by.
Date:Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Time:Noon sharp
Location:
outside Lush Old Bank Wellington, Shop LG 1.5
Old Bank Arcade Lambton Quay
Queen St Auckland, Shop 1 Ground floor Landmark
House 189 Queen St Auckland, and;
Cashel Mall Christchurch, Shop 110 Cashel St, Cashel Mall
Christchurch.
Why does LUSH want to trash plastic bags? New Zealanders use approximately 1 billion petroleum-based shopping bags each year. Plastic makes up 7% of New Zealands waste stream by weight and plastic bags just seem to be everywhere - they litter our streets, they harm the environment, and they kill wildlife. While plastic bags get used for less than an hour, they can take up to 1,000 years to break down in the environment.
LUSH is proud of its policy against plastic carrier bags and we want to see Government, other retailers, and our customers support a campaign to get them out of our cities. Starting 2 July 2008 customers can come in-store to find out more information and sign a petition to the Environment Protection and Heritage Council, urging them to ban plastic bags and promote the only truly sustainable alternative - reusable canvas tote bags. A national petition will also go live on Animals Australias website for customers who want to take part but do not live close to a LUSH store.
Similar initiatives have been successful around the world. This month China imposed a tax on single use plastic bags and banned them from all public transportation, including buses, trains and planes and from airports and scenic locations. In April 2008, South Australia announced a ban of plastic bags from large supermarkets, while last year San Francisco banned plastic bags from all supermarkets and pharmacies and the Irish government introduced a plastic bag tax that has slashed consumption by over 90%. Paris, Great Britain, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, and others have all banned or are moving towards reducing the use of plastic bags.
Campaigning against plastic bags is a natural extension of LUSHs work in leading retailers to tackle waste. Over 50 percent of LUSH products are sold to the customer naked, with no packaging at all, and the company has recently become the first major cosmetics retailer to switch over to manufacturing using only 100% recycled plastic bottles and containers.
While single-use plastic bags are given away to customers for free, its always the environment that pays the true cost of our disposal culture, says Mark Lincoln, Managing Director Lush Australasia Retail Pty Ltd. The two things people should take when shopping are their wallets and their reusable tote bag.
He added We hope that New Zealand residents will join us in encouraging Environment and Green Leaders to ban plastic bags in the countries cities. Christchurch City Council has been using a kerbside method of recycling bags since 2004, we want to see these types of initiatives taken steps forward.
- ends -
Media Contact: Casey Weathers (Lush press office): +61 (0) 417 479 123; casey@lush.com.au
Notes to editor: * In conjunction with the naked Campaign and to encourage a fair trade, cotton canvas reusable bag. This 100% cotton canvas bag is made by socially disadvantaged women in India using natural textiles.
* LUSH has never used plastic carrier bags, and has just replaced its remaining small plastic bags used to package
individual pieces of product with 100% recycled paper bags.
* LUSH products are handmade in Australia using fresh fruit and vegetables and the finest essential oils. Our products are: 100% vegetarian / 74% vegan / 65% preservative-free / 58% free of wasteful packaging made adhering to our no animal testing policy on products or ingredients. Lush support Fair Trade programs and small farms to supply raw materials.
* All of Lushs paper bags, cardboard boxes and reusable tins are made from recycled materials. The new Australian Lush manufacturing facility is now using only 100% recycled clear bottles, pots and pot lids and delivering these to our Stores.
* Naked products are better for the environment they are unpackaged, concentrated, last longer and weigh less than water-filled bottled liquids which take more energy to transport. For example, one truck load of Lushs solid shampoo bars would be enough for 800,000 washes but it would take 15 truck loads of liquid shampoo to do the same job. That means more pollution, and a much bigger carbon footprint.
Source:
Lush Fresh Homemade Cosmetics
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