Business, Employment, Environment, Ethical and green living, Global development, India, Plastics, Recycling, South and Central Asia, Waste, World news
‘The Body Shop held our hand’: how the troubled British firm helped a recycling startup in India
The high street retailer may be shutting shops in the UK but its legacy lives on for a plastics company which continues to help improve the lives of India’s waste pickers
Sitting in a sultry corner of southern India, beside the rain trees and beaches of Mangalore, Shifrah Jacobs, the co-founder of Plastics for Change, smiles as she recalls how it all began. One thing she says she won’t ever forget is the Body Shop for its big-heartedness when her company was a wet-behind-the-ears startup.
The Body Shop, whose main UK business collapsed into administration in February, has closed more than 80 stores in its home market and is seeking a rescue deal with landlords, while outlets in the US, Canada and parts of Europe have also shut down.