Getting rid of your cosmetics packaging: a guide to recycling your make-up
An eco-friendly approach is also reflected in consumer shopping habits. Increasingly, people are looking to buy from brands that use sustainable and recyclable materials to create their products and packaging. In the US, nearly 54% of consumers consider a product’s impact on the world when making a purchase.
In the last decade, many of us have become more conscious about the impact we’re having on the environment. This has led to habits like recycling becoming far more common in the average household.
Tips for recycling and reusing your makeup packs
Check local recycling guidelines
Separate out different components
Use TerraCycle
Find brands that offer refills or in-store recycling schemes
Shop with brands creating sustainable and recyclable packs
GPA Global and sustainable cosmetics packaging
With consumer demand for eco-friendly options increasing, brands from every sector are starting to make sustainability a key priority. Many products and packs are now made from recycled and recyclable materials, using processes that reduce the manufacturer’s carbon footprint.
Even within the cosmetics sector, an area notorious for its “wasteful” packaging, we’ve seen some excellent strides forward – but many of us are still struggling to dispose of our used makeup in an eco-friendly way. If you’d like to know how to rescue your old lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes from landfill, read on for some simple tips.
Recycling guidelines vary depending on where you live. You should be able to find out what you’re able to recycle by checking the website for the local council, municipality, or government authority in your region.
For different regions, there will be third party resources you can use to figure out what to recycle, and where you can recycle it. One excellent site in the US is Earth911 – enter the type of waste and your zip code to find a recycling plant or scheme nearby.
Depending on local restrictions, you may not be able to recycle certain types of pack components. For instance, squeezable tubes, makeup brushes, and soap pumps don’t tend to be recyclable. However, the cardboard container or the plastic bottle those components came with may be perfect for recycling.
Even if your local area has fantastic recycling provisions, there will always be some items that simply can’t go to a normal recycling plant. The good news is, there are other types of recycling scheme that you can use for items that would otherwise go to landfill.
TerraCycle is a global recycling scheme that has a presence in 21 different countries. The company is partnered with municipalities, manufacturing plants, and brands around the world and is dedicated to recycling items that are traditionally thought of as impossible to recycle.
