Holland & Barrett wages war on beauty waste with singe-use sheet mask ban

Holland & Barrett (H&B) has banned the sale of single-use beauty sheets masks across its network of 800 UK stores and online, as it seeks to wage war on beauty waste.

The health and wellness retailer is also encouraging customers to switch to more sustainable multi-use mask formats and calling on other UK beauty retailers to join it in taking action to reduce single-use beauty waste.

The move comes as sales of single use sheet masks continue to surge around the world with sales predicted to hit £369m a year by 2025.

To encourage people to make the switch, H&B is partnering with Ocean Generation and will be donating 5% of profits from the sale of its range of multi-use masks to the charity - which campaigns for a reduction in plastic waste in our oceans.

H&B Beauty Trading Director Joanne Cooke said: “It’s estimated that one million single-use beauty sheet masks are being thrown away across the world every day, and as a business that cares about the wellness of people and our planet, we have to take action now to reduce unnecessary waste.

“Beauty sheet masks can only be used once, so following a review we feel they no longer fit our clean and conscious beauty ethos, which is why we’ve decided to act now and stop selling them.

“We know our customers are eco-conscious and passionate about protecting the environment and we hope this move makes it a little bit easier for them to make their beauty regimes more sustainable.

“We’re encouraging them to join our #notanothersheetmask movement, and pledge to switch to more sustainable options.

“In the future we’ll continue to find further ways we can reduce waste by stopping the sale of all single-use beauty products. We hope that other retailers will join us and follow suit.”

Ocean Generation Founder Jo Ruxton added: “We are delighted that Holland & Barrett are taking the initiative to ban single-use beauty masks and to draw attention to yet another item that has crept into our lifestyles, with few people giving a second thought to the effects these may have on the environment.

“Convenience does not go hand-in-hand with conservation of the natural world and at Ocean Generation we have witnessed the damage our ‘addiction’ to single-use items has inflicted upon it.

“We hope that by drawing attention to this one item, people will start to consider other ways they can purchase beauty products without causing potential harm to the planet – especially to our ocean.”

The sheet mask ban is the latest planet friendly move from H&B which also announced a complete ban on wet-wipes from all UK and Ireland stores back in 2019.