The Body Shop

At The Body Shop, we’re committed to tackling the plastic crisis differently. Discover how we’re fighting for people and the planet with Community Trade recycled plastic from Bengaluru, India. Our trade will help empower the waste pickers we support with access to more sanitary working conditions, a fair price and the respect and recognition they deserve. An artwork of a female Indian waste picker by perceptual artist Michael Murphy is unveiled in London’s Borough Market to celebrate the launch of The Body Shop’s first Community Trade recycled plastic initiative, supporting marginalised waste pickers in Bengaluru, India. It’s no secret that plastic pollution has become a global crisis and the planet is drowning in plastic. It affects marine and ocean life, but it affects people too. In India, almost a third of waste is uncollected. This has given rise to 1.5 million people known as ‘waste pickers’ who collect this waste in the informal sector. In Bengaluru, we’re working with an organisation who proudly call themselves the ‘Green Force’. They work with waste pickers who are the unsung heroes who work tirelessly to clean up their city’s streets. ‘Waste pickers’, however, are mostly made up of ‘dalits’, formally known as ‘untouchables’, the lowest social group in India’s caste system. This means that they are vulnerable to discrimination and poor working conditions. That’s why we want to do more than fight pollution. We want to drive social change and help to empower people too.