Walk into London’s iconic Borough Market today, and a giant sculpture of Dolly Raheema, a waste picker from India, will greet you. Created to mark World Fairtrade Day by American artist and sculptor Michael Murphy, it uses recycled plastic from waste pickers in Bengaluru. (The artist shot to fame during the 2008 US presidential election, after creating the first portrait of candidate Barack Obama that influenced thousands of artists to contribute to the ‘Art for Obama’ movement).
His new installation puts the spotlight on waste collectors, and their work towards helping reduce plastic pollution. Raheema, 20, was forced to quit school at nine to help support her family. They now sell plastic waste for the Community Trade Programme (CTP) at The Body Shop.
The the international beauty brand claims that by the end of 2019, over three million haircare bottles (250 ml) will be made with recycled plastic. This will start with Shea shampoo and conditioner, and will be followed by the bestselling Ginger Shampoo.
Local connect
In partnership with Bengaluru-based Plastics for Change that gives waste pickers access to global markets, the initiative will also rope in local partners such as Hasiru Dala, an NGO that fights for waste picker rights. For CTP alone, a whopping 50,000 kilos of plastic have been recycled. Taking me through the plastic-to-bottle process, Lee Man, global community trade manager, The Body Shop, says plastic waste is collected and deposited at the segregation centre by verified waste pickers, and a record of the transaction is uploaded onto a mobile app. “This allows them to understand the price for the plastic they have to sell. The segregation centre owner issues a ‘sell’ transaction on the app, and the wholesaler is notified. The app gives us full transparency of the supply chain in India by recording how much the plastic is sold for and whether it matches the agreed fair price,” he says.
At the wholesaler’s aggregation centre, the pickers segregate the plastics, which then go through quality checks. The sorted plastic is then compressed into bales to be exported to Europe. This plastic is converted into granules that are sent to the bottle producer after further material testing.
Starting from the bottom
At Hasiru Dala Innovations in Shanthala Nagar, Bengaluru, segregated PET waste is bought from wastepickers and scrap dealers. This is sorted further, and the for-profit social enterprise only exports clear, transparent bottles without labels. “Workers at the aggregation centre are paid minimum wages with benefits. They are provided with all the requisite safety gear and precautions. And due to a long-term contract, they get more than prevailing market prices,” says Shekar Prabhakar, co-founder and MD.
For the Ginger Shampoo, he has exported 64 metric tons (64,000 kgs) of PET plastic bottle waste. “An additional 78 metric tons (that did not meet The Body Shop’s specifications) were passed on to domestic recyclers,” says Prabhakar, who is now working on setting up flower recycling plants in temple towns in partnership with Kanpur-based HelpUsGreen, and will launch a home composter made out of 100% recycled plastic this July.
Andrew Almack, CEO, Plastic For Change, explains how his organisation has adopted strategies from fair trade agriculture and applies them to the informal recycling economy in developing countries. “This initiative fortifies recycling businesses that pay waste pickers decent wages, train them in techniques that boost their incomes, and make investments that benefit entire communities,” says Almack, who is working towards replicating the model in other cities in Karnataka, Kerala, and eventually, throughout southeast Asia.
Do your bit
While using recycled plastics is a step towards a less-polluted planet, how is the brand ensuring these new bottles don’t pile up in landfills again? Lee encourages Indian customers to participate in their in-store recycling scheme, BBOB (Bring Back Our Bottles). Do your bit for the planet and return their empty bottles, jars, tubs, tubes and pots. It is currently being executed at 15 stores in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru.
Details on thebodyshop.in
