As Boots removes plastic from all wet wipes, it’s a complete wipe out.

As Boots removes plastic from all wet wipes, it’s a complete wipe out.

• Following through on its promise from the previous year, Boots solely offers plant-based biodegradable wipes now.
• MP Fleur Anderson applauds Boots’ efforts to remove plastic from all marketed wet wipes.

That is the most recent step in Boots’ continuous sustainability initiatives.

Boots distributes more than 800 million wipes annually, and the firm has been working hard to minimise superfluous plastic by reformulating all wipes it sells, regardless of brand, in addition to its own.

Boots is helping its consumers purchase more responsibly by delivering on the daring promise it made last year by solely selling biodegradable, plant-based substitutes. The goal of Boots is to have as little of an environmental impact as possible.

“A major thanks to Boots and thanks especially to all of the staff who’ve been involved in delivering on your commitment to take plastic fibres out of Boots own brand, and then all the other brands sold at Boots,” said Fleur Anderson, Labour MP for Putney, Roehampton, and Southfields.

“From what they are composed of all the way to seeing them on the banks of the Thames as I have, wet wipes’ use of plastic causes enormous harm to our environment. I’m hoping that many other stores will follow Boots’ lead and make the same decision.

“Boots believes that healthy communities require a healthy world. We have a rich history of operating responsibly because we understand it is the right thing to do,” said Natalie Gourlay, Head of ESG at Boots. Together with our clients, we strive to promote constructive behaviour and small changes that have a significant impact.

In order to make the changeover, Boots teams worked hard with suppliers to ensure that all wet wipe brands supplied at Boots are now only biodegradable without limiting the alternatives accessible to customers. All Boots brand wipes are labelled “Do Not Flush” to support proper wet wipe disposal. When flushable wipes are required for intimate usage, they are developed to meet the Fine to Flush standard.

The decision is good for the environment because wet wipes include plastic fibres that do not biodegrade. These minute fibres from used wipes penetrate the environment and become a contaminant that is extremely challenging to remove. Wet wipes made from biodegradable materials instead employ fibres that degrade naturally over time.

By June 2021, Boots will have completely phased out plastic from its own-label and No7 wet wipe product lines. In addition, the company has expanded its selection of reusable and refillable alternatives, including reusable make-up remover pads, cleansing pads, Boots Little Stories Reusable Wipes, and refillable cleansing products.

The latest modification Boots has made as part of its ecological objectives is the prohibition on wet wipes made of plastic.

Boots has a “Be More” edit on boots.com with over 400 eco-friendly products to allow customers more easily make sustainable choices if they wish to be more sustainable in their habits.

The sustainability pledges made by Boots include:

• Boots has eliminated all needless throwaway packaging from its giving selection over the holiday season.
• It replaced 10 million units of its own brand cotton wool with more environmentally responsible GOTS certified organic substitutes.
• This Christmas, Boots’ whole seasonal present collection is free of secondary plastic, saving nearly 2,020 tonnes of plastic.
• Boots offers plastic-free boots.com deliveries, which translates to a yearly plastic reduction of 157 tonnes.
• Almost a million difficult-to-recycle beauty, health, and wellness goods have been deposited by customers using the innovative “Recycle at Boots” programme. It is the first programme of its sort in the UK and uses Scan2Recycle technology to accept all products, including those not purchased at Boots. Around 19 tonnes of plastic have been recycled since September 2020.

GSN