Lush bow to pressure and ditch plastic glitter from products

January 2013. Lush Cosmetics have decided to remove all glitter and microplastics from their product range, just days after claiming it was a "non-story".

Lush have done some great work for the environment, and have often been leaders in creating animal and environment friendly products, but on this issue they fell down. However, after pressure from an online petition (started nearly 2 months ago), the media and other concerned parties they have made a sharp volte-face and decided to ditch the litter glitter from their products.

5 tons of litter a "tiny amount"
It was estimated that they were dumping some 5 tons of plastic glitter per year down the drains of the UK (And more in other countries), so their claim that it was a "tiny amount" was a little disingenuous. Lush have also spun this move to make it appear that they are doing it from the good of their hearts, rather than in response to complaints.

Hilary Jones, Ethics Director at Lush Cosmetics said: "Some of the shine and sparkle in our bath products used to be from micro plastic glitters. For some years now, because of our concerns about the accumulation of plastics in the environment, we have been gradually replacing these plastic glitters with new alternatives as innovations have become available.