A New Lease Of Life: Why We’re Practicing PCR On Our Plastic Packaging

Could your rubbish be reincarnated? You might find your old empties on your bathroom shelf once more. Here’s how…

At Tropic, we’ve always believed that small steps lead to big change, and while most of our packaging can be completely recycled, we’ve turned our hand to updating and improving it.

It’s our goal at Tropic to ensure we leave the planet in better condition than when we started, which is why we double offset all our carbon emissions – we’ve actually been a carbon negative company since 2018. 

We only use plastic when it’s safer to do so, and less than one per cent of all our plastic is actually single-use. However, even that feels like a figure far too high for us, so we thought it might be time to pimp up our packaging with even more sustainable credentials.

Enter PCR plastic. PCR means Post-Consumer Recycled – essentially it’s packaging that’s being given a second lease of life, rather than being sent to landfill or incinerated. You don’t even need any specialist equipment to recycle it after you're done with it, as it’s just as widely recycled as all traditional virgin (never used before) plastics. As always, though, please check with your local recycling authority before chucking anything in the recycling bin. 

As well as giving plastic a new lease of life, our PCR plastic uses – on average – less than one fifth of the energy to create than virgin plastic and generates less than one quarter of the greenhouse gases (APR 2018).

Because of this, your Lip Love nourishing balm is made from 95 per cent PCR content, and your Little Tropic and Mama ranges are made from majority PCR plastic. We’ll also be looking at introducing PCR plastic in all of our ranges, making our products more sustainable than ever before. 

The more we use PCR plastic, the higher the demand for it, which means less new plastic being made – let’s close the loop on plastic and help create a more circular economy. With strength in numbers, we can do almost anything when it comes to saving the planet. Are you with us?