Inside a Global Beauty Brand's Mission to Invest in the Workers Who Make Plastic Recycling Possible

Author:Whitney BauckPublish date:May 9, 2019Plastic waste has become an extremely hot-button issue of late, and for good reason: We're drowning in it.

"People don't always look at waste pickers as legitimate workers," explains Nalini Shekar, a social activist based in Bangalore, India. Shekar founded Hasiru Dala, an organization that helps local waste pickers unionize, get connected to social services and advocate for their rights. "In 2010 there were about 35,000 waste pickers in [Bangalore], but the city was not responding to their needs.

"This plastic's a little like one of our natural ingredients, really, because it's hand-picked and hand-sorted," explains Global Community Trade Manager for The Body Shop Lee Mann. "So we can actually ensure that we've got the cleanest material — we created the world's clearest [recycled] bottle." From Almack's perspective, The Body Shop's involvement is important beyond providing a buyer for the plastic.

And the waste pickers themselves make very clear that what they want more than anything is fair prices and respect for the work they're already doing. Although some of the dozen or so interviewed for this piece mentioned wanting to work so their kids could have "better lives," many others asserted that waste-picking is itself a rewarding job they're proud to have.

The Body Shop isn't going to stop looking for ways to further reduce the environmental impact of its packaging, but it is committed to staying invested in these waste-picking communities long-term. Seeing the impact even a little bit of investment can make in waste pickers' lives is motivating to folks like Mann.

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