// Boots to stop selling wet wipes that contain plastic fibres
// The health and beauty retailer said it will replace the wipes with plant-based alternatives
Boots is set to scrap all wet wipes that contain plastic fibres in an effort to reduce non-biodegradable waste.
The health and beauty retailer said it will stop selling all wet wipes containing plastic by the end of the year and replace them with plant-based alternatives.
Boots said it is one of the biggest sellers of wet wipes in the UK, having sold more than 800 million over the last year online and in its 2,200 stores, from 140 product lines across its skincare, baby, tissue and health care ranges.
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It said its sales represented about 15% of all beauty face wipes sold in the UK.
The move follows Boots’ earlier decision to reformulate its own-brand ranges of wipes. It has written to its suppliers in the UK and Ireland to ask them to follow suit.
“We removed plastics from our own-brand and No7 wet wipe ranges in 2021, and now we are calling on other brands and retailers across the UK to follow suit in eliminating all plastic-based wet wipes,” Boots UK chief customer and commercial officer, Steve Ager said.
Boots said its own-brand wipes would be labelled as “do not flush”, while those developed for intimate use would be formulated to meet flushability standards.
The retailer said it had also expanded its ranges of reusable and refillable products over the last two years, and was working to remove plastic from product packaging and from its online deliveries.
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