L’Oréal Australia’s Garnier has teamed up with TerraCycle to give schools and pre-schools around the country the chance to win a $45,000 playground.
The playground, made from recycled beauty products, is the main prize in a competition that requires schools to collect as many empty beauty products as they can for recycling from October 9 to December 8.
Each unit (22g) of “used, post-consumer beauty products” will count towards the school’s total ‘playground credits’ in the competition.
The school that collects the most credits will win the playground, the school that collects the second highest amount will win $2500 cash and Garnier products valued at $500, and the school that collects the third highest will win $1000 cash and Garnier products valued at $500.
The competition follows Garnier and Terra Cycle’s launch of the Beauty Products Recycling Program last year.
Under the program, Australians are asked to collect used beauty products, drop them off at their nearest public drop-off point, or “sign up to the program” and start collecting in their “home, office or school”.
Signed-up individuals, businesses and organisations will receive a shipping label allowing them to send their empty containers to TerraCycle free of charge.
At TerraCycle the packaging is shredded and mixed with other plastic waste to form pellets, which are then sold to manufacturers or used by TerraCycle to make park benches, picnic tables and other such products.
The program welcomes the following beauty products from any brands:
Cosmetics packaging including lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, eye shadow, bronzer, foundation, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip liner, and concealer packaging.
Hair care packaging including shampoo and conditioner bottles, caps, hair gel tubes, hair spray and hair treatment packaging.
Skincare packaging including lip balm, face and body wash soap dispensers and tubes, body and hand lotion dispensers and tubes and shaving foam packaging
Speaking to Professional Beauty after the launch of the program, TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand general manager Jean Bailliard said it “is a great way for salons to dispose of their waste responsibly and to spread the word amongst their customers about how easy it is to recycle beauty product packaging”.
“Salons go through so many products, we have no doubt they will be some of our most significant collectors,” he said.
He stressed that many beauty products and their packaging cannot be recycled through standard Council recycling services and thus end up in landfill.
For more information visit www.terracycle.com.au