While shopping sustainable beauty is the ultimate goal, it's still essential to recycle all empty beauty containers to avoid waste. In fact, 50% of people don't even try to recycle their empty containers as it is deemed "inconvenient," explains TerraCycle's resident beauty industry expert Gina Herrera. The so-called incommodity contributes to the 400 million tons of plastic waste generated per year.
"The global cosmetics industry produces 120 billion units of packaging every year, including the cardboard that envelops perfumes, serums, and moisturizers that contributes to the loss of 18 million acres of forest each year," explains Herrera. And while it isn't necessarily the easiest to recycle empty beauty and skincare packaging, it is very much necessary for a sustainable future. It is also particularly important to avoid "wishcycling," explains Danielle Jezienicki, Vice President of Sustainability for Grove Collaborative.
But here's the thing: Beauty product packaging is especially confusing and tricky to recycle (think: mirrored glass, cardboard sleeves, paper inserts, etc). So, we asked recycling experts to break down exactly how to ensure your empties make it to the correct recycling plants.
Check municipal recycling regulations
First and foremost, you should always follow your local recycling laws to ensure that you are following the rules. You can also use resources like Recycle Coach, How2Recycle, and EARTH911 to check what recyclables are accepted.
The bad news, however, is that Material Recycling Facilities, or MRFs, have quite strict regulations and don't accept a large majority of beauty products. Be wary of the universal recycling symbol (triangle), as it is not the only way to indicate the recyclable nature of the container. Instead, pay attention to labels to get a better idea as to whether a product is recyclable.
"In reality, only plastic items that have the numbers 1 or 2 printed within the arrows are widely recyclable in curbside recycling programs," says Herrera. If so, your bathroom products can actually hit the blue or green bin with kitchen and household items because the United States follows a single-stream recycling program (this means that plastics can be recycled with other plastics and glass with other glass).
Alternative recycling programs
Don't see a recycling symbol? Fortunately, some eco-conscious brands also offer internal recycling programs within their own facilities. TerraCycle, a private recycling business, actually works with Nordstrom for BEAUTYCYCLE, a free program that invites consumers to drop off their beauty and skincare product packaging (regardless of brand) at in-store collection points for recycling, including items that are typically unrecyclable. Other brands that have individual in-house recycling include Garnier, Burt's Bees, eos, Herbal Essences, L'Occitane, Josie Maran, and Paula's Choice, to name a few. These brands generally work with programs like TerraCycle to properly process waste.
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Mono-material recycling
Here's a general rule of thumb for recycling beauty products: The less material that your package is made of, the more likely it is to be recyclable. When more material is used, the recycling process can be costly, time- and money-wise, for the separation process. And even if you try to do so yourself, cross-contaminated recyclables may not be accepted by local programs.
If your product is made of one general material like glass, plastic, or cardboard, you can rinse it and toss it directly into its respective recycling bin. And contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to remove adhesive labels on recyclable products. This is usually done through a specialized heating process performed at many MRFs.
In regards to plastic, it is always better to recycle a larger plastic container as it is most likely to be recycled. However, Jezienicki still advises staying away from plastic products in general as they are still huge pollutants. "The reality is that plastics can usually only be recycled two to three times before losing the qualities that make them usable, which means that transitioning to recycled plastic only removes plastic from landfills or polluting the earth by one to two cycles."
What can't be recycled
Small products can actually halt the recycling process and therefore aren't widely accepted at recycling plants. This means anything under 2 inches, think: all travel and portable beauty products. Additionally, products with dark packaging also cannot be recycled as they can't be identified by MRF machines. Also unrecyclable: products that contain mirrors, magnets, makeup brushes, sheet masks and packets, and squeezable tubes.
For reference, here's a quick guide to non-recyclables:
Hair Care: Shampoo caps, conditioner caps, hair gel tubes and caps, hair spray triggers, and hair paste caps
Skin Care: Lip balm tubes and caps, soap dispensers and tubes, body wash caps, lotion dispensers, and caps
Cosmetics: Lipstick cases, lip gloss tubes, mascara tubes, eye shadow cases, bronzer cases, foundation packaging, powder cases, eyeliner cases, eyeliner pencils, eyeshadow tubes, concealer tubes, concealer sticks, and lip liner pencils
Look into refillables
The ideal goal is to use less packaging, hence producing less waste. Many brands like Brazilian NATURA, French Diptyque, and Los Angeles-based Bathing Culture offer refillable beauty products. This means that you will be reusing the packaging several times over its intended lifetime, thus keeping it away from the landfill. "If we can't reduce the number of products we buy, reusing and recycling those products is the next best thing. Over 90 percent of an average product's environmental impact comes from extracting and refining the raw materials from which it is made," explains Herrera.
As practitioners in the massage and therapeutic fields, we go through a fair amount of single use plastic items. Massage lotions, oils, creams, and gels are traditionally packaged in plastic tubes, jars, jugs, and tubs. Over the period of a whole career, that all adds up to significant use of plastics. It leads us to ask, "What about recycling lotion bottles?"
The good news is that we can make the right choices and recycle nearly all of the plastic containers we use to reduce our environmental impact. With very little effort, we can work the recycling of lotion bottles into our workflow, and at least use these plastics with something of a clear conscience.
Whether you work in an established clinic or on a portable table in your clients' homes, recycling lotion bottles is a noble step in the green direction.
Let's look at options on how to recycle lotion bottles.
Lotions, oils, gels, and creams (as well as shampoo, skin creams, sunblock, etc) are packaged in what is known as rigid plastics. All rigid plastic packaging in Canada should indicate, either on the label or stamped on the bottom, its recycling status. Plastic bottles stamped or labelled #1 and #2 are widely accepted by regional recycling programs.
Plastics stamped or marked #1 are made from PET or PETE (Polyethylene terephthalate). This is the type of plastic used for water and soft drink bottles, cooking oil containers, peanut butter jars, and many other food products. These containers are recyclable and accepted universally by recycling facilities.
Containers stamped #2 are made out of HDPE (high density polyethylene). This plastic is more common in packaging for milk jugs, shampoos, and detergents. Many of the lotion bottles we handle are HDPE plastic, and they are recyclable. Very few recycling facilities would turn these away.
The City of Toronto, among many other recycling regions, collects these materials, sorts them, and sells them on for re-use. The profitability of this process is very low, and the process is not that efficient, but it keeps a massive amount of plastics out of landfills and the greater environment.
Plastic bottles are the number one type of plastic that actually gets recycled. Almost all other plastic waste does not.
Don't worry too much about every last trace of residue, but consider storing plastic bottles upside down as the product runs out. Just like one might do with shampoo bottles, it makes good economic sense to get every drop you can.
This rule applies across the board, and the folks working in recycling plants will thank you for it. Massage lotions, particularly those that contain oil, can contaminate other materials in the recycling bin. Just like you should rinse out wine bottles, beer cans, pet food containers, so should lotion containers get a rinse. This will also reduce smells and potential insect infestations.
One super-green way to rinse empty massage lotion bottles is to do so with spent bath water. Other ideas have included keeping an empty gallon jug in the shower, to gradually fill with water that is being used for other purposes.
Recycling programs ask that rigid plastic bottles of all types include their tops, be they pumps, sprayers, or simple caps. This helps prevent spillage in the process. Spillage, once again, can make other materials non-recyclable.
Outside of Nunavut, where a recycling program is unfeasible, all regions of Canada provide us with recycling options, many providing a green bin (or blue bin). Our cities are best suited to handle recycling, and the service is free after all. Follow these steps and the plastic containers will — at the very least — not end up in the environment. Find out more about your local recycling options.
Whether you are a self-employed RMT or you work with others in a clinic setting, we strongly encourage you to take these very simple steps to keep your practice environmentally sound. Please consider these steps as part of your business plan. Our industry is focused on healing, after all, so let's work together to prevent harm. We can all take little steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and increase our recycling rate. Waste management is the place to start.
Please join Body Best on this journey to do what we can to keep our industry ethical and our planet as clean as possible.