Health and beauty news Jan/Feb 2021

Make menstrual products plastic-free

Ella Daish, pictured above, is running a campaign to try and get plastic out of menstrual products. So far she has convinced Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug to ditch plastic applicators for biodegradable, cardboard alternatives in their own-brand products.

Now she is targeting brand leader Tampax. To get their attention, she created a giant plastic tampon from abandoned plastic applicators sent to her by supporters, 87.5% of which were Tampax. But Tampax has, so far, declined to ditch the plastic.

Our period products guide recommended reusable products like menstrual cups or reusable applicators like the Dame brand.

Support Ella’s campaign here.

Solid shampoo goes mainstream

Mainstream shampoo brand Garnier has caught up with ethical shampoo companies and has just launched a plastic-free solid shampoo bar. Garnier is owned by L’Oréal which appears in our perfume guide and is part owned by Nestlé.

Louise Edge, Global Corporate Campaigner at Greenpeace said:

“Garnier is showing how brands can shift their consumers away from unnecessary plastic packaging.

They could go further still with a naked shampoo bar or reusable container, removing the cardboard and eliminating throwaway packaging completely.”

In our guide to shampoo, we recommended the following brands of solid shampoo bars made by much more ethical companies – Lush, Faith in Nature, Friendly Soap and Badger. Lush solid shampoos are naked and don't come in any throwaway packaging.