Weleda’s rather fantastic plastic
When it comes to packaging, there are no magic eco-answers. The whole subject sometimes feels so complicated it has the effect of making people want to bury their heads in the sand. The only really ‘green’ solution, of course, is to buy nothing. (And we’re no more up for that than you are.) So: bravo for Weleda - a longstanding favourite brand with our readers and testers. Their body lotions have been awarded an iF Packaging Design Award for a pioneering ‘bag-in-bottle’ technology. (The not-so-scientific bit: when you pump the top of the bottle to dispense these silky lotions, a vacuum effect means that the bottle hidden inside collapses a bit. Air can’t reach the formulation, so artificial preservatives aren’t needed at all.) The plastic bottles are recyclable, and the outer ‘Trucard’ cartons feature at least 50% post-consumer recycled material, with the rest Forest Stewardship Council-certified card.
Why not glass? Because a) it’s never the wisest choice for a bathroom, and b) it’s heavy to transport, guzzling gas during deliveries from factory to warehouse to store, and (once empty) to the bottle bank. There are four pampering options, meanwhile, in this eco-packaged pump-action lotion, each in 200 ml bottles – and all deliciously skin-quenching, in their own way. (A PS: all suitable for vegans, too.) So: check out…
• Citrus Hydrating Body Lotion, £13.95, is a real sense-awakener, for normal skin, with aloe vera, coconut oil, sesame (and the zestiness of just-squeezed lemons) – buy here
• Sea Buckthorn Replenishing Body Lotion, £15.95, is packed with nourishing, vitamin-rich sea buckthorn, shea butter, mallow extract – and is apparently a favourite of Claudia Schiffer. What can we add? Except that you can buy here
• Wild Rose Pampering Body Lotion, £19.95, for normal-to-dry skins, with the wondrous scent of Damascene rose – buy here
• Pomegranate Regenerating Body Lotion, £21.95, which is our favourite (why is it we’re magnetically attracted to the top-of-the-range…?), packed with Faitrade organic pomegranates, which have turbo-charged antioxidant power, plus apricot kernel oil and cell-regenerating shea butter. You can buy here
Just don’t forget to recycle your empties, when the bottle’s finallypumped its last…
