Recycling your used beauty products just got a whole lot easier thanks to a new partnership between global beauty icon L’Oreal Paris and recycling company TerraCycle.
The initiative, which lets you recycle everything from old mascara tubes to empty moisturisers, is the first of its kind in Australia and is super easy to use. You just sign up online and start sending off your empty beauty and personal care packaging. And it won’t cost you a cent!
With each of us contributing about two tonnes of waste to landfill each year, this is a great way to reduce your impact (and your salon’s) on the planet. You can even get your clients involved by collecting their used items as well.
“Salons go through so many products, we have no doubt they would be some of our most significant collectors,” says Jean Bailliard, general manager for TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand. “The program 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.”
How does it work?
Once you’ve joined the program, you’ll receive a shipping label that lets you send all your empty containers of any brand to TerraCycle for free, with L’Oreal covering the cost.
When your waste reaches TerraCycle it gets shredded and mixed with other plastic waste to form plastic pellets, which are then sold to manufacturers or used by TerraCycle to make park benches, picnic tables, and lots of other products.
“Our recycling process actually stops us from extracting more oil from the ground, which is basically the primary material used to produce [plastic],” says Bailliard.
“This is by far the biggest win for the environment and a great initiative to reuse plastics that are already part of our consumer chain.”
Can’t I just use my council recycling bin?
Although you might not realise it, a lot of cosmetic items (think lipstick and mascara tubes) actually can’t be recycled in the normal way because of the plastics used in manufacturing. Because of this, the majority end up in landfill, which L’Oreal hopes to change.
And the best bit? Not only is it totally free, but for every item collected you earn ‘points’ that can be converted to a cash donation for the charity or school of your choice.
Sign up today and get your whole team, and your clients, involved in saving the planet one beauty product at a time!
For more information or to sign up, head to www.terracycle.com.au