Ethique: beauty brand with zero waste

Ethique (French for ‘ethical’) only create products that are cruelty-free and vegan – and made with ingredients that are 100% sustainably sourced and fair trade. So no palm oil, sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate, parabens, phthalates, or petroleum by-products, and the packaging is entirely compostable, too.

Due to Ethique’s dedication to sustainable and ethical practices, to date, they’re projected to save 10 million plastic bottles from manufacture and, subsequently, landfill, by 2020.

The founder, British born biochemist Brianne West says: 'Up to 75% of [conventional] shampoo and 90% of conditioner can be water, which is just crazy – you have water in your shower! Obviously, water is an important part of the product, but I was interested in what happened if you combined the ingredients without it.'

The carbon footprint by the shipping is offset too. West says, 'Every year, we offset their carbon emissions through climatefriendly.com. Why? With climate change a massive threat to everything on earth, we have to lower our global emissions. By offsetting ours, we are supporting sustainable forestry in Australia, which acts as a carbon sink.

Ethique is shipped in bulk to the UK by sea freight for a reduced carbon footprint. We’ve had an analysis done, and per use, even air freighting solid bars from NZ has a smaller carbon footprint than purchasing liquid products from your local supermarket, because of the significantly reduced weight and lack of plastic bottle. It pays to remember of course that most liquid products are freighted around too.'



The handmade product range encompasses concentrated face, hair, and body products, which last up to five times longer than their traditional bottled counterparts.

Even the sleeves they arrive in are 100% compostable and recyclable, meaning zero consumer waste. They started shipping to the UK in April and broke the site, with the Jasmine and Ylang Ylang Body Butter, Pinkalicious Shampoo Bar and The Perfector Solid Face Cream selling out within days.




The Beauty Director's verdict:

We tested the Pinkaliscious Solid Shampoo, £12.99 for normal hair. The results are: it lathers quite well with a creamy foam that cleans hair and imparts a pretty lovely scent, and doesn’t leave hair looking flat or greasy too. We’re stockpiling the rest of the range for ourselves and gifts for the family also (before the stampede in Holland & Barrett).

www.hollandandbarrett.com