Big Blue butterfly bag

From 1 January 2010, Holland&Barrett’s plastic bags will be replaced by paid for Jute bags featuring the Large Blue Butterfly.

The  species was declared extinct in the UK 25 years ago, but has since been successfully reintroduced following a conservation project funded by Holland&Barrett since the 1980s. This is the latest part of its Plan It Green environmental strategy.

As part of the Plan It Green strategy Holland & Barrett has also just banned parabens and SLS from all of the beauty ranges they stock. H&B carried out a survey of 4,000 women and found that;

• Just 9% of women actually read the ingredients label on toiletries.
• 73% want more advice on the ingredients contained in their beauty buys.
• When given further information about parabens and SLS, just 9% were happy to keep using the products.

Our roving reporter in the big smoke went along to the health chain’s Large Blue Butterfly event and this is what she had to say:

‘Well the statistics are frightening – 167 plastic bags per person a year in the UK (not this little one I’ve given them up) compared to 0.0002 per person per year in Germany. Holland&Barratt have taken the plunge and banned them. 

‘In order to gently ‘break the consumer in’ they are selling these gorgeous jute bags with the beautiful large blue butterfly emblazoned on them for just 99p which is profit neutral.

‘And what about the Large Blue butterfly? Well, now that was a serious eye opener to me. I am certainly not going to reincarnate as one of them - they actually mimic a type of red ant which take them onto their backs underground where they stay for up to11 months living off the ant’s young. They still don’t get the fact they’re being eaten up by this large blue who is not one of them..

‘Funnily enough it’s a gorgeous holistic story because the butterfly is attracted to  a special kind of  violet which the ants seem to feed on too..’

Fascinating stuff. Let’s hope the other chains follow the lead of Holland&Barrett on the plastic bag front.