The packaging would use methane, a waste product which is said to be more harmful to the atmosphere than C02.

The Body Shop turns air pollution into packaging

2 February 2016

The Body Shop wants to extract harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and use them to make containers and bottle lids for its range of body butters.

By 2020 the scheme could reduce the amount of plastics made from oil that the Body Shop uses by 70 per cent.

The packaging would use methane, a waste product which is said to be more harmful to the atmosphere than C02 when the same amounts are compared, and customers would be encouraged to bring the bottles back to be refilled.

The California-based company which makes the new plastic, Newlight Technologies, collects methane from farms and natural gas refineries.

The gas is put into a reactor with enzymes to absorb the carbon and oxygen, rearranging the particles into a solid material known as ‘air carbon’.

This can be melted down to make pellets which can then be shaped into containers.

This video explains how the new technology works: