Certified Plastic-Negative

UpCircle was founded on seeing value in things that already exist. That’s why we’ve upcycled hundreds of tonnes of leftover natural ingredients and saved tens of thousands of pieces of packaging.
As a business we have always been committed to reducing our plastic use wherever possible. Globally, 120 billion beauty packaging units are produced every year, with 95% discarded. That’s why our products are 99% plastic-free, housed in glass and aluminium, wrapped in 100% recyclable cardboard, with plastic-free aluminium cap options and bulk supply to zero-waste stores.

Through our Plastic Negative certification we fund an impact project in Goa, India, called Project “Saaf Samudra” which means “clean sea” in Hindi.

This project has removed over 1 million single-use plastic pouches from Goa’s coastline, before they got the chance to enter the Arabian Sea.

1. Multi-layered-plastic (MLP) has a low commercial value.
MLP has a recovery rate of less than 5%.


2. Through our Plastic Negative certification, we give MLP commercial value. Waste-workers receive a good wage, health insurance and access to a dignified workplace.


3. Waste-workers then recover and remove the MLP. Without Project Saaf Samudra this plastic would have entered into the ocean.

4. MLP is taken to a co-processing centre.

Co-processing is prescribed by the UN Basel Convention as the best environmental option.


5. The minerals are extracted for use in cement production and the energy is recovered.

This replaces the use of coal and other fossil fuels.

UpCircle Beauty is certified Plastic Negative. For every product we sell, we contribute a percentage towards vetted impact programs that remove plastic waste from the environment. Our vetted program is Project “Saaf Samudra,” a co-processing facility that recovers and removes ocean-bound plastic on our behalf.

100% of the plastic recovered on our behalf is "ocean-bound". What this means is that this project focuses on the collection of plastic waste in a 100km radius from the coastline (as defined in the Verra Plastic Standards) that would otherwise have not been collected and would most likely end up in oceans. Essentially, it is an intervention to divert this plastic safely away from the oceans before it ever has a chance to leak into it.

Project Saaf Samudra (साफ़ समुद्र) collaborates with V-Recycle, one of India's most trusted waste management innovators. UpCircle’s Plastic Credit contributions finance the recovery of ocean-bound low-value plastic MLP waste. Waste workers collect plastic waste directly from households and commercial areas to catch the plastic before it leaks out into the environment. In setting up this supply chain, we're providing an additional income stream to waste workers so that they can gain access to better education and healthcare.

Because we don't want the efficiency of the use of our products to be compromised by the packaging.

As a business we have always been committed to reducing our plastic use wherever possible, for example, our hand cream comes in a 100% aluminium tubs with an aluminium lid. Our branding is also printed directly onto our glass jars, avoiding the need for plastic labels and keeping the jars 100% recyclable.

We also offer plastic-free refills across our entire product range, this means every product can be re-ordered with an aluminium cap.