Amazon has become the surprising destination for sustainable beauty without us realising

Sustainability has taken a bit of a battering during 2020. Single-use PPE equipment, face masks for every person over age-11 and a bottle of anti-bac in every coat pocket has pressed pause on how far we've been able to limit the waste we produce.

Just as the sustainability movement was picking up momentum Covid hit. But despite this, the beauty industry has continued to make progress. Holland & Barrett made good on their pledge to cease selling wet wipes, The Body Shop kept their promise to phase out face wipes and in October of last year, the government brought the ban on plastic-stemmed cotton buds into force.

All of this marks a much-needed shift towards tackling the estimated 120 billion units of packaging and waste generated by the beauty industry each year. But while this is brilliant, it begs the question, what can we use instead to replace our usual convenient beauty staples? And, where can we get them with our access to shops limited?

Amazon has emerged as a surprising destination for sustainable choices. Quietly, they’ve been busy building up an arsenal of new brands with impressive eco-credentials. And, they’ve been stocking up on reusable beauty essentials that could massively help to limit the 13.2 billion cotton buds and 11 billion face wipes we use annually from making their way into our waterways and landfill.

Here's our top pick of the beauty buys to pick up now...