Good news for those looking for optimism in the face of climate change! Here is another small thing that gives us a chance to do good.
Opportunities for hard-to-recycle packaging from beauty and skin care products can be found at major retailers. While we have incorporated recycling paper, cardboard, milk jugs, aluminum and glass as well as composting kitchen scraps into our normal routines, there are other items that we buy and use, but are not as easily re-purposed. Packaging and containers for cosmetics are examples of items that don’t fit into curbside recycling; those lipstick and mascara tubes, compacts and serum vials and even dental floss containers and toothpaste tubes can now be re-purposed through collaborations among the beauty industry, businesses and organizations such as PACT Collaborative.
PACT describes itself as “a nonprofit collective uniting the beauty industry to reduce beauty packaging waste and work collaboratively toward more circular solutions for the industry.”
PACT partners with retailers who sponsor drop off locations for empty beauty packaging; participants include Nordstrom, L’Occitaine. Sephora, and Ulta. All locations for these retailers are collection sites for empties. Each retailer has its own program name, but they work similarly.
Empties don’t have to be from products purchased at the collection site store, but they should be clean, unbagged, and free of liquid to avoid contamination so they can be properly recycled. Check one of these pages for step-by-step instructions on how to make sure your empty beauty containers find new purpose -- https://www.sephora.com/beauty/pact-collective-recycling-program or https://www.pactcollective.org/packaging-drop-off-guide
According to PACT, the containers will find a new use in one of several ways, they may be:
MECHANICALLY RECYCLED -into packaging, carpet, pallets, and more
DOWNCYCLED -into asphalt or other useful products
MOLECULARLY RECYCYLED -into material used to build something else
CONVERTED TO ENERGY -could be turned into electricity
For more options – hop online and check out solutions offered through TerraCycle,
including brands that may have their own specific recycling programs through TerraCycle.
Check the websites of your favorite brands to see if they have their own recycling initiatives.
If we ask ourselves “what happens to this next” as we toss things, we can build habits that do less harm and be inspired by organizations who are taking steps to make a difference. Let’s pitch in and show our support for businesses who are acting for the good of our future and encouraging all of us to think about what we can do to make a difference.
Opportunities for hard-to-recycle packaging from beauty and skin care products can be found at major retailers. While we have incorporated recycling paper, cardboard, milk jugs, aluminum and glass as well as composting kitchen scraps into our normal routines, there are other items that we buy and use, but are not as easily re-purposed. Packaging and containers for cosmetics are examples of items that don’t fit into curbside recycling; those lipstick and mascara tubes, compacts and serum vials and even dental floss containers and toothpaste tubes can now be re-purposed through collaborations among the beauty industry, businesses and organizations such as PACT Collaborative.
PACT describes itself as “a nonprofit collective uniting the beauty industry to reduce beauty packaging waste and work collaboratively toward more circular solutions for the industry.”
PACT partners with retailers who sponsor drop off locations for empty beauty packaging; participants include Nordstrom, L’Occitaine. Sephora, and Ulta. All locations for these retailers are collection sites for empties. Each retailer has its own program name, but they work similarly.
Empties don’t have to be from products purchased at the collection site store, but they should be clean, unbagged, and free of liquid to avoid contamination so they can be properly recycled. Check one of these pages for step-by-step instructions on how to make sure your empty beauty containers find new purpose -- https://www.sephora.com/beauty/pact-collective-recycling-program or https://www.pactcollective.org/packaging-drop-off-guide
According to PACT, the containers will find a new use in one of several ways, they may be:
MECHANICALLY RECYCLED -into packaging, carpet, pallets, and more
DOWNCYCLED -into asphalt or other useful products
MOLECULARLY RECYCYLED -into material used to build something else
CONVERTED TO ENERGY -could be turned into electricity
For more options – hop online and check out solutions offered through TerraCycle,
including brands that may have their own specific recycling programs through TerraCycle.
Check the websites of your favorite brands to see if they have their own recycling initiatives.
If we ask ourselves “what happens to this next” as we toss things, we can build habits that do less harm and be inspired by organizations who are taking steps to make a difference. Let’s pitch in and show our support for businesses who are acting for the good of our future and encouraging all of us to think about what we can do to make a difference.