Over 25 tonnes of plastic marine litter collected by the Ocean Legacy Foundation. Lush Cosmetics shipped plastics to Urban Resource Group in Toronto for recycling. (CNW Group/Canada Fibers Ltd.)

TORONTO, June 27, 2017 /CNW/ – Urban Resource Group Inc., an affiliate of Canada Fibers Ltd., today announced successful collaborative trials with Lush Cosmetics involving recycling of ocean plastic into cosmetic containers – turning harmful litter into eco-conscious packaging. In late 2016, Lush delivered plastic collected from a six-month long, volunteer-led ocean cleanup project to Urban Resource Group’s plastic recycling facility in Toronto, Canada. Urban Resource Group took on the challenge of converting the tattered, assorted mix of plastic into a high-quality plastic pellet to use in a standard manufacturing setting.

This project started as a response to an alarming trend: waste plastic is projected to outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Lush partnered with environmental non-profit Ocean Legacy Foundation to collect approximately 25 tonnes of plastic from the ocean and shorelines of Vancouver Island, Canada. This plastic was collected to explore simple objectives – can ocean plastic be used within the current recycling infrastructure? Is there a viable outlet for this worldwide pollutant?