Responsible beauty

REN Clean Skincare is improving the beauty of the ocean, with a new bottle made entirely of recycled plastic.

The British skincare brand has teamed up with recycling innovator TerraCycle to create the packaging, which contains 20% plastic recovered from oceans, beaches, rivers and lakes.

From late summer 2018, the brand's signature "Atlantic Kelp and Magnesium Body Wash" will come in the new, eco-friendly receptacle, which will also come with a new metal-free pump and is fully recyclable and compostable. REN aims to package its additional products in the range in the new hybrid recycled/ocean plastic packaging by early 2019.

"The beauty industry is one of the worst offenders when it comes to the overuse of packaging, and an alarming percentage of it is non-recyclable," said Arnaud Meysselle, Chief Executive Officer, REN Clean Skincare, in a statement. "REN Clean Skincare participates in beach cleanups to educate consumers on these issues and designs its packs to minimise waste. We call upon the beauty industry to take all necessary actions to reduce packaging waste for the health of our planet."

The move builds on REN's recently-announced "Clean to Planet" initiative, along with its pledge to become a "zero-waste" company by the year 2021.

The beauty industry has shown signs of wanting to tackle environmental issues recently. For instance, last November saw the beauty giants Clarins, Coty, L'Oréal and Groupe Rocher all team up on a "Responsible Beauty Initiative" (RBI), a concept aiming to encourage sustainability within the industry, on an ethical, social and environmental level. – AFP Relaxnews