In 1976, Anita Roddick opened a small shop in Brighton on England's south coast, selling 25 naturally-based skin and hair care preparations. Today, The Body Shop is the UK's largest international retailer with over 1300 shops in 45 different countries. Walk into any of The Body Shop's stores and you will find a variety of free pamphlets on issues the company supports such as stopping violence against women, environmental protection, trading with communities in need, and charitable contributions they support. In this interview, Anita Roddick speaks to EcoStewards about her phenomenal success based upon the standards she has set.
Sustainable development is about achieving a fair and safe world for future generations.
This applies in particular to our purchasing which is supported by a comprehensive system of product stewardship including life cycle assessments of our products and packaging. This commitment encapsulates our longer term goal of fully sustainable operations. We believe that societies have an urgent and overwhelming moral obligation to avoid waste. As part of our commitment to observing legal regulations, The Body Shop has now produced three independently verified environmental statements. It contains a number of targets and commitments for the future on issues such as waste management, energy efficiency, purchasing and auditing.