Beauty Clinic: Recycling make up containers
Q. I really want to recycle my empty beauty containers and make up tubes and palettes etc., but I can’t make head or tail of all the symbols. Is there an easy way of doing the green thing?
A. Until now we would be giving you a breakdown of all the symbols (and struggling to believe anyone could devote the time to sorting it all out) but there’s a new initiative by make-up brand Maybelline New York in partnership with TerraCycle, which should help us all do the right thing, fairly easily.
Founded in 2001, TerraCycle is the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable post-consumer waste, according to its website. ‘The business works with over 100 major brands in 21 countries worldwide to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills. It repurposes that waste into new eco-friendly materials and products that are available online and through major retailers.’
TerraCycle and Maybelline have partnered to create a free recycling programme for all brands of empty make up packaging, simply called The Maybelline Makeup Recycling Programme.
You can drop off your make up empties across any brand at any of a 1,000 locations across the UK. The only waste that ISN’T accepted is:
• Glass containers e.g. foundation bottles and cream eyeshadow jars [you should be able to recycle glass containers with domestic waste]
• Wooden eye pencils
• Makeup brushes
• Nail varnish
• Aerosol containers
The waste is sent on to TerraCycle and according to the website this is what happens to it then:
‘Once we receive your empty makeup packaging, we start by sorting it by material type and cleaning it (if necessary) before the recycling process can begin. The packaging is shredded and extruded into plastic pellets. These pellets can then be used for a number of moulded rigid plastic products like benches.’
So, how do you find your drop-off point? Sarah struggled a bit with this, as it’s not the most easy site to navigate (there’s a new one being developed, we’re told) so here are a few signposts:
• Sign up to TerraCycle and create your own account.
• Go to Free Recycling Programmes
• Choose the recycling programme you are interested in, eg The Maybelline Makeup Recycling Programme
• Click on How it works
• To find your closest participating store, go to Drop off your empty make-up packaging and look at the map at the top. Click on the magnifying glass ‘SEARCH’ icon, which is top left on red band. It tells you to put in your post code BUT if you live somewhere small, put in your nearest big town (this took sometime to sort with the Communications team at TerraCycle… Sarah kept ending up with a map of her tiny village). You might have to try a couple: with Sarah, Chard in Somerset didn't have anywhere at the moment but Yeovil, also Somerset, had two drop off points – Superdrug Yeovil and Tesco Yeovil Extra. Those two stores are the biggest participating ones, by the way.
There are lots of other recycling partners in the TerraCycle initiative so, when you have half an hour to spare, make a nice drink and browse. It’s really worth it if you care about the planet.
