Credit: Getty
1 min read
From The Body Shop to & Other Stories, multiple high street retailers and beauty brands now offer in-store beauty recycling facilities.
As time goes on, it’s become increasingly obvious that we’re all on the same mission: to reduce our plastic usage and get better at recycling. Given what we know about climate change, tossing packaging into the bin without a backwards glance just doesn’t cut it anymore.
But while we’re all pros at being green in the kitchen, it’s a different story when it comes to bathroom and beauty products. Sure, packaging-free skincare is more common than ever, more of us have ditched one-use cotton pads and living sustainably is much more than a passing trend yet, from foundation tubes to moisturiser pots and perfume bottles, figuring out how to recycle beauty product containers is still a bit of a minefield.
Some beauty packaging – most plastic or glass bottles, for example – can be fully recycled at home as part of your usual curbside collection (see our everything you need to know guide to at-home beauty recycling for more details), but not everything falls into this category. Many products come in containers that are partially, but not totally, recyclable, which requires fiddly dismantling before you can chuck them out with a reasonably clear conscience.
Fortunately, though, several high street retailers and beauty brands now offer in-store recycling services. Some even offer incentives to do so, such as vouchers or money off later purchases. So you’re no longer obliged to spend hours disassembling atomisers and pulling springs out of pumps – and you’ve got literally no excuse not to recycle.
Where to recycle beauty products on UK high streets
Maybelline
Maybelline has recently expanded its recycling initiative – now known as Conscious Together – to made it better and more accessible than ever. As part of a long-term partnership with Terracycle, the brand is placing recycling bins in as many local stores as possible, from Sainsbury’s to Boots, Tesco, Superdrug and John Lewis. The aim is to have a recycling point within reach of as many people as possible.
Simply take your plastic makeup empties, put them in the bin and the rest will be done for you. Find your nearest bin here and check the ‘makeup recycling locations’ box.
Boots
As one of the UK’s biggest retailers, Boots is making it easier for customers to recycle beauty products. The Recycle at Boots scheme is available at over 700 stores across the country and is designed for people to bring in their hard-to-recycle products, like toothpaste tubes and travel miniatures.
Plus, you can get 500 advantage card points when you get rid of five products and spend £10.
John Lewis
John Lewis launched BeautyCycle almost three years ago, and since then a whopping 1.1 million products have been saved from landfill. You have to be a member of My John Lewis, but it’s worth it.
Most completely empty makeup and skincare products are accepted (just make sure you check the terms and conditions before you leave home) and every time you return five empties you’ll get £5 off a beauty purchase.
& Other Stories
From its excellent creamy lipsticks to its pastel-toned hand wash and body scrubs, we love & Other Stories’ beauty products. We also love that H&M’s sister brand has offered beauty recycling in its UK stores since 2015.
Return one or more empty Stories containers to any branch (or old clothes from any brand for textile recycling), and you’ll be rewarded with a 10% off voucher to be used across the store.
L’Occitane
How’s this for an early commitment to sustainability: L’Occitane had a return system for its glass bottles way back in 1976.
Fast-forward over 40 years and you can buy refill sachets for over a dozen of the brand’s iconic products, and take empty beauty, skincare and haircare packaging into L’Occitane boutiques for recycling. As a thank you for doing your bit for the environment, you’ll receive 10% off your next purchase of a full-size item.
The Body Shop
The Body Shop has always championed sustainability, and as well as using Community Fair Trade recyled plastic in its packaging, the brand has joined forces with two companies: Scan2Recycle and MYGroup.
You can get rid of products from any brand, and you can even take things like pipettes, plastic pouches and pumps (which are usually hard to recyle). The only ask if that all packaging is as empty, clean and dry as possible before being dropped off in store.
Images: Getty Images; supplied by brands
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