Lush gets Fresh as Sales Staff Bare their Bums to Save the Planet
Monday 12 May 2008, 2:52PM
By Lush Australasia
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Nationwide Anti-Packaging Campaign Urges Customers to Buy ‘Naked’ GoodsWearing nothing but revealing deli-style aprons reading “ASK ME WHY I’M NAKED”,employees of Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics will lead a cheeky protest outside their Stores to urge shoppers to go ‘naked’ by purchasing goods that don’tcontain any packaging.
The brave Sales Teams will hand out leaflets to passers-by detailing the devastating environmental impact of packaged goods sold in cosmetic stores, supermarkets, and other retailers.
Date: Wednesday 14 May 2008
Time: Noon sharp
Location: outside Lush 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 are Lush employees shedding their clothes to talk about packaging? The environment is one of the biggest global issues we face today; to combat climate change and to protect the Earth’s scarce natural resources shoppers need to take action by avoiding packaged goods. Unnecessary packaging can be found throughout every shopping precinct: loose fruit individually shrink-wrapped or on plastic trays in supermarkets, the prolific use of plastic carrier bags and the mountains of plastic bottles used for cosmetic products are all contributing to the growing environmental crisis.
The statistics make sobering reading: packaging contributes to 2% of overall greenhouse gases and plastic uses 8% of the world’s oil resources. In New Zealand alone, more than 3.4 million tones of solid waste is delivered to landfills each year.
Lush leads the cosmetics industry in efforts to eliminate packaging by selling solid ‘naked’ products that do not require plastic bottles. By removing the water from the product, Lush’s innovative solid shampoo bars, conditioners, massage bars, body butters, bubble bars and soaps are sold to the customer deli-style, without any packaging. As a result, last year alone approximately 3 million plastic bottles were not manufactured globally, transported and disposed of because customers chose to buy Lush’s solid shampoo bars instead of a bottled product.
Lush’s naked campaign is part of a coordinated national effort with similar events happening in both New Zealand’s islands and 4 Australian States.
“Packaging is rubbish and for too long we have had to suffer excessive amounts of it,” says Lush Australasia Managing Director Mark Lincoln. “Now that the true financial and environmental costs are becoming obvious, customers are challenging manufacturers and retails to cut the wrap. Companies like ours need to think outside the box and present customers with innovations that allow them to buy truly naked products.