Dorset cosmetics company opens world-first Green Hub
Lush has created the facility in Poole
Last updated 11th May 2023
A new £2.3 million 'green hub' has been launched by a cosmetics brand in Poole.
Lush says the building in Fleets Corner business park will help recycle over 80% of its manufacturing waste each year.
It will also process 500 tonnes of wastewater a year and 20 tonnes of plastic a week.
Lush has operated its own Green Hub facility since 2015, but this new facility is three times the size of its previous location.
Ruth Andrade, Earthcare Strategy Lead for Lush said:
“The best positive contribution we have made to the waste problem at Lush is to invent, manufacture and sell our revolutionary naked cosmetics, however, we also create creams, gels and gifts, and manufacture our own products, so we are still generating waste.
"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.
"From closing the loop on our black pots, to making sure none of the waste gets exported, from innovations like our climate positive cork storage pots, to planning our shop spaces using repurposed wood and fixtures, at the heart of the Green Hub is innovation. With this new big and better Green Hub, we can do much more, and more importantly open our doors for our community to design this journey with us.”