"How The Body Shop Supported a Struggling Recycling Startup in India"

Although the retailer is closing stores in the UK, its impact persists through a plastics company that continues to enhance the lives of waste pickers in India.

In Mangalore, India, plastics are organized and prepared for conversion into granules. Photo provided by Plastics For Change.

Situated in the humid southern reaches of India, among the rain trees and beaches of Mangalore, Shifrah Jacobs, co-founder of Plastics for Change, reflects with a smile on the early days of her venture. She vividly remembers the generosity of The Body Shop during her company's fledgling stage, a kindness she asserts she will never forget.

Meanwhile, The Body Shop, which fell into administration in the UK in February, has closed over 80 stores in its home market and is currently negotiating a rescue deal with landlords. Additionally, its stores in the US, Canada, and parts of Europe have also been closed.

While several smaller global suppliers to the high street retailer are worried about being stuck with excess inventory and facing an uncertain future, Plastics for Change remains hopeful.

Anita Roddick, the founder of The Body Shop who passed away in 2007, was dedicated to supporting small-scale suppliers in remote locations to procure essential ingredients for her products. The company collaborated with 18 community fair trade suppliers worldwide, sourcing Brazil nut oil from Peru, sesame oil from Nicaragua, and handmade recycled paper packaging from Nepal.

"The Body Shop held our hand. They taught us, guided us, and trained us in everything..." — Shifrah Jacobs, Plastics for Change

Jacobs and her co-founder, Andrew Almack, established Plastics for Change in 2015 with the vision of creating the world's first fair trade verified recycled plastic platform. Their concept aimed to bridge the gap between waste pickers and scrap merchants, transforming discarded plastic into high-quality recycled packaging. This initiative not only aimed to protect the environment but also to provide regular income and dignity to some of the estimated 2 million waste pickers who clean India’s city streets.

Almack was resolute about partnering with The Body Shop, recognizing their unparalleled experience in managing fair trade supply chains. "I flew to a conference in Singapore specifically to meet with the sourcing director. I chased him down the hall as he was leaving the conference and pitched the concept of fair trade plastic," Almack recalled.

"It took several years of working with The Body Shop and seven trips to their head office to meet the community fair trade program requirements and launch this initiative," he added, highlighting the perseverance and dedication required to bring their vision to fruition.

The Body Shop not only supported Andrew Almack but also shared invaluable lessons learned from smallholder farmers, which he could then adapt to forge connections between waste pickers and global brands. Since their partnership began in 2019, Almack noted, "We've expanded our programs in seven geographies and continue to embrace the philosophy of 'Trade, Not Aid' to foster social impact through recycling."

Based in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), Karnataka, with operations extending across southern India, Plastics for Change has developed a responsible supply chain. This initiative ensures stable and fair incomes for waste pickers while satisfying the diverse packaging needs of global brands.

The collaboration with The Body Shop was instrumental in achieving these outcomes. The company brought 30 years of experience and substantial encouragement to the startup, significantly enhancing its development.

While The Body Shop has a long history of sourcing natural ingredients from developing countries, it had not previously ventured into using recycled plastic for packaging. In contrast, many global cosmetics firms still prefer sourcing recycled plastic without addressing the initial stages of the supply chain, where waste collectors often receive low wages and face exploitation due to regulatory gaps.

Sitting in her office next to the expansive outdoor shed where discarded plastic is delivered, Shifrah Jacobs chuckles as she reminisces about her initial optimism. She had believed that the concept of a fair trading platform would immediately attract waste pickers and scrap merchants, known locally as kabadiwallahs, to their doorstep.

"It doesn’t work that way," she explains. "Waste pickers may be exploited by the informal system they operate within, but their families have been in this business for generations. There's a certain comfort in the familiar, and everything is based on relationships, which makes change challenging."

However, The Body Shop recognized the value of this partnership and the significant potential it had to enhance the lives of some of India's most marginalized individuals.

"The Body Shop held our hand. They educated us, guided us, and trained us in everything from comprehending the plastics standards required in Europe to quality control and designing an efficient supply chain. Most importantly, they provided us with a guarantee that they would purchase our recycled raw material," Jacobs shares. This support was crucial in helping Plastics for Change establish a foothold and begin making a meaningful impact.

As they delved into the plastics recycling industry, the team at Plastics for Change mastered the stringent regulations required for processing plastics, particularly learning that only food- and beverage-grade plastics are permissible for use in cosmetics due to the risk of contamination from other substances.

They also developed skills for engaging with scrap dealers and implemented systems to enhance operational transparency. One such innovation was a mobile app designed to track transactions clearly. For instance, when waste pickers deliver sacks of waste to the scrap merchant, a Plastics for Change worker verifies the contents and the payment made to ensure fairness.

The Body Shop played a crucial role in their training, emphasizing the need to remove labels from plastic bottles because they were made of PVC. While PVC labels are permitted in India, European standards prohibit them due to environmental and health concerns.

"They taught us how to trace things back if there was ever a quality issue. Every batch of waste is coded, allowing us to trace it back to the specific scrap dealer it came from," explained Srinidhi Kashyap, head of operations at Plastics for Change. This traceability is vital for maintaining quality standards and accountability throughout their recycling process.

Since 2019, Plastics for Change has delivered 1,794 tonnes of recycled plastic to The Body Shop for use in their products. The process begins at one of their sorting centers, like the one in Mangalore, where trucks unload vast sacks containing a diverse assortment of waste. The center's staff, predominantly women, meticulously sort the waste by color, type, and potential application.

After the initial sorting, the waste is moved onto a conveyor belt for further refinement. The plastic is then compacted into square bales, securely tied, and stored in a large shed, awaiting transportation to a manufacturing unit. There, it is processed into flakes and transformed into granules, which are eventually molded into bottles.

Indira Kuri, aged 38, who previously earned 5,000 rupees a month working in a bakery, now makes 12,000 rupees segregating waste when the electric truck delivers it. She also receives an additional 3,000 rupees in benefits each month, including a free lunch and medical insurance.

"The increase in income allows me to provide better meals for my children, including more meat and fish than before, and I no longer have to worry about affording their education," shares Kuri, reflecting on the significant improvements in her living conditions since joining Plastics for Change.

For Gauri Patel, 38, who is employed on the assembly line at Plastics for Change, the consistency of her earnings has significantly improved her life. Previously, she made candles, but that work was seasonal and often interrupted. "There used to be too many breaks in the work. Here it is constant and predictable, and I’m better off," Patel explains, highlighting the stability and predictability that her current job offers.

As a friend and business partner, the Body Shop's greatest benevolent action was advising Plastics for Change not to rely solely on it. It even went so far as to introduce Plastics for Change to its competitors.

“It was extremely ethical of them to encourage our independence. Their approach was selfless,” remarks Jacobs.

In 2019, the company sold all of its waste to the Body Shop. By 2021, this figure had dropped to 30%, and now it is under 10% as it serves other leading cosmetic companies, including L’Oréal, Mac, Estée Lauder, Colgate, and Ocean Bottle.

The gratitude towards the Body Shop for their selfless support remains deep. “Perhaps we could have managed without their generous assistance. Perhaps. But it would have definitely taken much longer,” Jacobs notes.

Source: the guardian