By-product beauty brand UpCircle has partnered with rePurpose Global to remove more plastic than it creates as a business and has now been officially certified Plastic Negative.
“As a business we have always been committed to reducing our plastic use wherever possible, for example, we recently repackaged our signature coffee scrubs into glass jars with aluminium lids,” explains UpCircle co-founder Anna Brightman. “We also offer plastic-free refills across our entire product range. As the next step it was a no-brainer to actively remove plastic from the environment.
“Which is why I’m thrilled to announce our partnership with rePurpose Global, we now remove more nature-bound plastic than we create as an entire business. UpCircle is officially a certified Plastic Negative brand! It wasn’t enough to become just plastic neutral or ‘offset’ our plastic, we had to go a step further and become Plastic Negative.”
Through the partnership UpCircle is funding an impact project in Goa, India, called Project ‘Saaf Samudra’ – meaning ‘clean sea’ in Hindi – which removes low-value plastic (MLP) from the coastline, preventing it from entering the Arabian Sea.
The plastic is then taken to a co-processing centre where it returns to the product lifecycle: the minerals are extracted for use in cement production and the energy is recovered from the plastic, replacing the use of coal and other fossil fuels which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
As well as removing nearly 2,000kg of plastic (nearly a million single-use plastic pouches), the project empowers waste-workers with a fair wage as well as economic subsidiaries, health insurance and access to a dignified and inclusive workplace.
“Plastic pollution is as much of a human problem as it is a planet problem,” adds Brightman. “Waste-workers often have no access to healthcare, secure pay or formal workplaces. UpCircle and rePurpose Global are changing that for the 15 workers at Project Saaf Samudra in Goa.”
You can watch the full campaign video here.
