How to recycle your beauty products the right way

Greening up our regimes has never been easier but knowing how to minimise waste can be confusing when it comes to beauty product packaging. Rethinking our beauty habits so they focus on more planet-friendly, ethically-sourced formulas is only one part of the eco story. Given the global beauty industry produces over 120 billion units of packaging, ensuring it is recyclable or refillable is the other part of the equation.

“Low recycling rates come down to beauty products being consumed in the bathroom and thrown in the regular trash,” explains Suwar Mert, CEO of Swedish startup Bower. “Another issue is that beauty product packaging is often composed of a variety of complex materials, from plastic to mirrored glass and paper inserts – sometimes all in one product – which makes it hard for the consumer to know how to sort it.”

Swedes typically recycle some two tonnes of rubbish each year and Bower is on a mission to improve on that number by rewarding the recycling of everything from skincare jars to shampoo bottles and eyeshadow palettes at existing bins. “We have pin-pointed approved recycling stations in the Bower app,” explains Mert. “When you arrive, all packaging with a barcode can be scanned to reveal a total value. With these ‘Bower points’ the user can redeem a maximum of 20 SEK per month, donate the amount to charity or redeem vouchers and discounts.”

Bower’s partners include big name brands such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever and L’Oréal, making the app an appealing option for those in the Nordics. So far, more than 300,000 users in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland have scanned more than 20 million pieces of packaging, saving an estimated one million kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Among those brands doing their bit is Bjork & Berries, which uses 100 per cent recycled plastic for its hair, hand and body products. Nuori’s new Enriched Hand & Body Wash bottle goes one step further and is made from a carbon negative sugarcane biopolymer. Every one kilogram of this biopolymer produced removes 3.09 kilograms of CO2 from the air through the sugarcane plant. Equally trailblazing is Ren Skincare, which has just announced that all products meet its Zero Waste Pledge, including bottles made from
reclaimed ocean plastic.

To offset its carbon footprint, Frama Copenhagen offers refills for its apothecary style shampoo, hand and body washes. While Beauty Disrupted creates everything in bar form – from shampoos and conditioners for different hair types to body cleansers – saving on average two plastic bottles per bar.

There are a few clues on the package that tell you if a beauty product is recyclable or not. The paper and cardboard boxes that products come in are a sure bet but look for the triangle with arrows symbol, known as the Mobius loop, to be 100 per cent sure. “On plastic bottles, you’ll see a similar symbol that has a number inside,” says Mert. “These numbers (one to seven) identify what type of plastic the package is made of – one or two being the most recyclable.”

Skincare, make-up and fragrances often come wrapped in cellophane. Sadly this cannot be recycled so place with your normal waste.

Make-up products are notoriously difficult to recycle curbside as they are made up of multiple materials. However, according to Mert, “all packaging can be recycled via the Bower app as long as the product has a barcode”, which applies to some high street palettes and foundation tubes. Another option for Swedes is Kicks Stores in Stockholm, which will accept cosmetic waste.

Plastic bottles such as shampoos, conditioners and shower gels are accepted by most recycling programmes. Simply make sure that you have emptied and cleaned them out first.

Similarly, once emptied and cleaned, these can be recycled alongside your glass bottles.

These can’t be recycled, so should be placed in the normal waste bin.