Last week, I had the opportunity to go to the Lush Cosmetics Ltd. factories located in Cambie. I am a big fan of Lush Cosmetics products, so I was thrilled when I signed up for this event with limited spots. The event was organized by the UBC Social Enterprise Club, a club focused in driving social change by bringing students and social enterprise together.
If you are a Lush fanatic like me, you already know that the company is driven by its values. Lush cosmetics fights for animal rights and engages in many ethical practices.
Our tour guide showed us all of the different facilities where our favorite products are created. Unfortunately the day we went, production was slow. However, we did get to make a quick stop at the bath bombs and bubbleroon section. The tour guide facilitated a 10 minute workshop were we could help make and mold a Rose Jam bubbleroon. My favorite part was adding the glitter to the final product.
Our guide spent much of the tour explaining the different ways in which Lush Cosmetics engages in environmentally friendly practices. For example, they reuse a lot of boxes, containers and ingredients. They make sure to avoid making waste of products. They use fresh ingredients, which I can confirm from having been introduced to the room full of fruits, flowers and vegetables which they use to create their products. We learned about their labelling process, and about their famous product called the “charity pot”. 100% of the profit of the product goes to charities they have chosen. As of now, Charity Pot has raised around 14 million.
At the end of the tour, they gifted us amazing products to take home! Overall, I am really grateful of this experience. It was amazing to see how “handmade” products are created. What I enjoyed the most is learning how their environmental team continuously analyzes their existing process to make them environmentally friendly.
Without doubt, the office tour showed me that Lush Cosmetics is all about their values. I encourage our readers to learn more about the charities they partner with and their green practices!