Boots has announced plans to switch all of its own brand cotton wool products to be organically sourced by the end of this year “at no extra cost to customers”. 

The UK’s biggest pharmacy multiple said earlier today (November 15) that it is now only sourcing Global Organic Textiles Standard-certified cotton, citing a World Wildlife Fund finding that non-organic cotton is “the world’s dirtiest crop,” accounting for 16 per cent of global insecticide use.

Boots – which sells over 10 million units of cotton wool products each year – said GOTS certification assures consumers that cotton has been farmed “without the use of toxic, persistent pesticides or synthetic fertilisers”.

It also “supports the farmers of cotton” by allowing them to grow additional crops, the company claimed. 

The organic products are currently available on the Boots website and are expected to be on store shelves “by the end of the year”.

Recent sustainability pledges from Boots include scrapping wipes containing plastic fibres from its product ranges by the end of this year and reducing the use of unnecessary plastic for its Christmas gifting range.

John Sweeney, head of product sustainability at Boots, said: “In total, Boots sells over 10 million cotton wool products across its beauty and baby ranges each year, so this is a really important move.

“It takes into account the entire supply chain and ultimately benefits the cotton farmers and in turn their families and the local community.”

Mr Sweeney said that making the switch without increasing prices would help “make organic cotton wool easily accessible”.