Lush, the fresh handmade cosmetics company, has announced the completion of its new Green Hub at the home base of the brand in Poole, Dorset.
Lush says the Green Hub is part of its commitment to and investment in “finding solutions” for materials that could be considered waste.
With six core teams working together at the Green Hub, Lush says it is creating circular economies, working to close the loop on packaging and water waste and find solutions to reuse, repurpose, repair and recycle materials from across their business.
Lush has operated a Green Hub facility since 2015 but has now invested £2.3m in relocating to and refitting its new 40,000 sq ft premises on the Fleets Corner Business Park to create an in-house location dedicated to waste management.
With a building three times the size of its previous location, Lush says the capabilities of the Green Hub for processing and reinventing waste have upscaled and expanded.
We asked ourselves what would happen if, instead of dealing with materials as waste, we processed them to keep their value for longer?
Key functions of the new Green Hub include granulating plastic as part of the brand’s closed-loop Bring it Back recycling scheme, treating wastewater from their manufacturing and laundry processes, repairing machinery to prevent purchasing new and donating surplus products and lifestyle items to charities and grassroots groups across the country.
In 2022, from the new location, Lush says it was able to recycle 81% of its UK Manufacturing waste, repair over 700 electrical items and donate more than 107,000 products and lifestyle items to “people in need”.
Using PET and PPE plastic granulators, Lush continues that the Green Hub team will be able to process 20 tonnes of plastic per week in a closed loop and the DAF (Dissolved Air Flotation) water treatment unit will process 500 tonnes of dirty water each year.
The Green Hub will also be the first space the brand is opening to the public on its UK Manufacturing campus. Lush says it will host a schedule of events, workshops and community engagement opportunities designed to allow for environmental-focused education and collaboration between local and national businesses, councils, schools and community groups.
Ruth Andrade, Earthcare Strategy Lead for Lush, commented: “We asked ourselves what would happen if, instead of dealing with materials as waste, we processed them to keep their value for longer? What would happen if we kept them in the loop? Then if we were to do this, how could we really know what happened to our materials at the end of their lives?
“To answer these questions, and to keep our waste traceable and ourselves accountable, the Green Hub was born. From the early days of the first Green Hub in 2015, it has been about much more than just ways to process materials, it has been about finding the hidden potential in the materials we use.”
