Recycling beauty products can feel like a bit of minefield. While the glass bottle of your foundation can be recycled, the plastic pump cannot. But when it comes to the glass bottles for nail polishes, it’s a big no-no, due to the hazardous toxins found in the formulas.

While we’re taking more time to educate ourselves on the ins and outs of beauty recycling, many brands are launching initiatives to give us a helping hand.

Boots has launched a new sustainability scheme, making it easier than ever to recycle your beauty products.

Customers can bring in empty beauty, health and wellness products – yes, even from brands not stocked at Boots. The drugstore will stop them from going to landfill by ensuring they are recycled properly for a second life. Plus, for every five products deposited, customers will receive 500 Boots Advantage Card Points (the equivalent to £5).

To track the amount of products you donate, Boots is using Scan2Recycle technology, making it the first scheme to ever use this programme. The initiative, which has been created in partnership with No7, will run in 50 stores across the UK.

“To help our customers shop and consume more sustainably, we’re excited to launch the most inclusive recycling scheme on the market,” says Joanna Rogers, trading director and VP of beauty at Boots. “Customers will be able to recycle even the most difficult health, beauty and wellness empties, from old mascaras and empty toothpaste tubes to finished lipsticks and empty vitamin pots. Our customers can then feel even better about treating themselves with their Boots Advantage Card points.”

So how do you donate empty beauty products at Boots? To do this, you first need to register at boots.scan2recycle.com on your phone or computer. Once you’re set up, you need to upload pictures of your empty products onto the website. 

When you’ve uploaded the images at home, take your empty products to a recycling point in one of the 50 dedicated Boots stores. Each recycling point has a QR code – scan this on your phone, so Boots can acknowledge that you’re the one who deposited it. This helps it keep track of what you’ve donated to ensure you’re rewarded properly.

You can then go home in the knowledge that your empty products will be recycled properly without having to do any of the hard work – and you’ll get rewarded for it. Bravo, Boots.

To find your nearest Boots recycling point, visit boots.com/boots-recycling-scheme.

Main image: Getty