Dear Body Shop: take your $@(!!* packages back.

At it's inception, the Body Shop was a hugely progressive company with impressive policies regarding fair trade and environmental issues. Over the past decade, however, it seems as though the company (now a fully-owned subsidiary of L'Oreal) has moved away from some of these founding philosophies.

At first, the store doesn't seem that much different from when it shilled those neon coloured "endangered species" shirts back in the 1990's (of which I was the proud owner of three). Many of the products still appear to be community traded. In fact, this naieve belief that the Body Shop is somehow morally "superior" to other cosmetic companies is a big reason why I shop there. If I can't help being vain, at least I feel a little bit better knowing that the ingredients for my lipstick were sourced fairly.

To that end, I suppose I expect the Body Shop to TRULY be more progressive than other companies out there. I was, therefore, rather disappointed when I recently inquired whether my empty bronzer container could be returned to the store. "No, I'm afraid we don't take the packaging back" the sales associate advised me, looking rather mystified at the empty compact I presented to her. I admit I was rather stunned. I had almost taken for granted that the store, which lists "protect our planet" as one of its core values, would have figured out recycling program for its own bloody containers. It makes me wonder: how can ANY company that truly considers itself to be "green" not have the option of returnable containers?

On the flip side of the coin - mad props to Mac Cosmetics for having a cool policy in effect: bring back six containers, and get a free lipstick in return! http://www.maccosmetics.com/customerservice/cs_services.tmpl. So it seems, returning packaging to the source can be possible.

UPDATE (06/30/08): Soon after I published this post, I got to thinking - perhaps the sales associate I spoke was just misguided. A nervous trainee, perhaps. So I called the Body Shop to make sure I had my facts straight. Turns out the information was correct; they don't accept their primary packaging back.

Give 'em a call yourself at 1.800.387.4592 to let them know your definition of "profit with principles" includes accepting responsibility for packaging waste.