British cosmetics retailer The Body Shop recently announced that it will solely manufacture and sell vegan products by the year 2023. The beauty company has championed its vegetarian and cruelty-free range of products for years, but finally, the brand decided to go 100 percent vegan. It revealed that its company line will be certified by The Vegan Society, ensuring that its entire formulation portfolio will be completely vegan.

The Body Shop already offers a large number of vegan products. Even though nearly half of the company’s products are fully vegan, some contain honey, shellac, lanolin, and beeswax, all derived from animals and insects. The company has said before that it plans to move away from animal-derived products, promising to phase out the products that use ingredients such as honey and beeswax. Earlier in 2021, the company’s renowned “White Musk came out with a redesigned vegan recipe, bottled in a recycled container.

“Our delicious to go 100 vegan is the natural next step for The Body Shop,” The Body Shop’s global brand director Lionel Thoreau told Global Cosmetics News. “Vegan beauty is a critical next step in our sustainability and environmental endeavors. This, along with our global refill and in-store recycling programs makes The Body Shop a destination for ethically-minded customers.”

Beyond its shift to veganism, the company plans to enhance its recyclable materials and facilities. The chain announced that it wants to establish refill stations for its products later this year. The company wants to begin with 500 stores and then continue with 300 more in 2022. The recycling plan will allow customers to reuse the bottles that they buy from the bottle shop, minimizing the company’s waste footprint. The Body Shop claims that its full range of products will be fully recyclable by 2025, while currently 68 percent of its products come packaged in recyclable containers.

Founded by Dame Anita Roddick in 1976, The Body Shop launched itself into the beauty and cosmetics industry as one of the few brands that highlighted vegan and cruelty-free products. At the time, the cosmetics industry rarely paid attention to sustainability and animal testing, making consumers unaware of the dangers of the products. The Body Shop, however, jumped into the industry to challenge the market's status quo. Now decades later, several big cosmetics companies have shifted their policies regarding animal testing. The company's move to go completely vegan will potentially impact the market further as more companies begin to realize a growing consumer concern regarding sustainability and ethical practices.

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