Beauty product empties are inevitable. Beauty recycling programs can help you minimize your environmental footprint. Learn how the planet can get the most out of your beauty product empties.

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The shipping, creation, and promotion of beauty products leaves an environmental impact that can be reduced drastically by participating in programs that reduce, reuse and recycle. 

Why Beauty Recycling Programs Matter

Beauty recycling programs are a conscious effort by brands to meet consumer demand for sustainability and address environmental health concerns. The implementation of recycling programs reduces the environmental footprint of creating beauty products.

Some environmentally-friendly companies plant a tree for every purchase or remove waste from the environment every time a consumer buys a product. However, it is important to look into "green" and environmentally friendly brands because the term "green” is not regulated by the FDA. It is important to review how a company defines a green initiate before buying a product.

Terracycle Beauty Recycling Programs

Terracycle is a popular recycling program and is free for consumers if a brand is partnered with Terracycle. A common misconception is that users need to invest in a Terracycle box for everything they recycle.

As a consumer, you don’t need to buy a Terracycle box to recycle your products if the brand participates in the Terracycle program. You can navigate to the Free Recycling Programs search bar on the Terracycle site and search for the brands you love.

Your favorite brands might also provide a discount for recycling your products. For example, Credo Beauty offers Credo Reward Points for recycling with Terracycle.

{Related Post: How to Save Money on Beauty Products}

Popular TerraCycle Partnerships

Terracycle accepts a variety of consumer products. Many brands participate in the program as a way to meet consumer needs: 

• Grove Beauty
• Garnier
• Credo Beauty 
• The Detox Market
• Follian

Nordstrom also partnered with TerraCycle to create Nordstrom BeautyCycle. Consumers can recycle products in-person at Nordstrom or print a free shipping label on the BeautyCycle site.

According to Nordstrom the program recycles, "all brands of beauty product and skincare packaging, such as pump caps, hair spray triggers, lipstick cases, eyeliner pencils, and mascara tubes."

If you can't find your brand under the Terracycle program, there are other ways to recycle your products below.

Loop

Loop is an extension of the TerraCycle program and was created to provide a sustainable shopping experience. Consumers can buy products directly from the site to be delivered in a reusable Loop tote. The empties can be shipped back to Loop in the same reusable tote they were delivered in. To access this, you can browse the Loop store here.

"For the first time ever, consumers can receive their favorite products from trusted brands in durable, reusable packaging. By creating this circular, durable model, we’ve closed the Loop on e-commerce shopping."

-Terracycle

Loop is partnered with many brands including Ulta, Walgreens and Kroger. You can find a detailed description here of how the process works on the Loop site.

Pact Collective

Pact Collective provides a beauty recycling program for materials that are difficult to recycle. According to the business, some packaging is not sustainable because it is made out of "virgin materials." The mission of Pact Collective is to provide a place to recycle raw materials.

According to the US General Services Administration, "virgin materials are natural resources that are extracted in their raw form that are traditionally used in industrial or manufacturing processes.  Examples of virgin materials are timber, plastic resin derived from petroleum refining process, and mined/processed metals."

"Pact is here to prevent beauty packaging from going to the landfill. We do this by recycling hard to recycle stuff that local recycling facilities cannot take, and by changing the way packaging is designed in the first place."

-Pact Collective

Pact Collective Recycling Options

Pact Collective has an in-store collection program and a mail back collection program. To use the in-store collection option, you will need to look for a Pact collection bin. There is an option to search for Pact bins near you with the Pact collection bin location search tool. If you can't find a bin near you, you can also mail your empties to the company.

To use the mail back collection program, the empties you want to recycle must belong to a brand that is partnered with the Pact Recycling Program. You can use your own box and print out a free shipping label to mail your products to Pact.

However, as of August 2021, I noticed that not all of the brands that participate in the Pact program are listed on the Pact site here. Ilia Beauty also participates in the program, but to access the Pact shipping label, you have to go to Ilia's recycling web page. You will need to look on the websites for the brand you use to see if the brands are partnered with Pact.

Blue Beauty Recycling Programs

Recycling beauty products is easiest when you buy from blue brands that are required to have recycling programs to make the process easier for consumers. 

Beauty Heroes, a blue beauty movement database, has a complete list of brands. To be placed on the list, the brands are required to provide recycling options for consumers. The complete brand list can be found in Where to Find Clean Beauty Products or on the Beauty Heroes website.

The term blue beauty isn't regulated by the FDA. If a brand you love claims to be "blue," please remember brands define blue beauty differently. You'll need to review the steps specific brands are taking to support blue beauty.

Beauty Heroes

If you shop through Beauty Heroes, a blue beauty site founded by the creator of the blue beauty movement, you can rest assured that these brands have been vetted by the blue beauty standards here.

Beauty Heroes is partnered with TerraCycle, and you can either recycle the items in-person at the Beauty Heroes Navato Store or you can use the free TerraCycle program connected to each brand. If you order from Beauty Heroes, you might want to see The Right Way To Dispose of Toxic Beauty Products and Packaging on the brand site with more details about recycling options for the blue beauty database.

{Related Article: Where to Find Clean Beauty Products}

Beauty Exchange Programs

Beauty exchange programs reward consumers for turning in empty bottles.

Bare minerals

A brand called bareMinerals recycles products from any beauty brand. You can bring bottles into a bareMinerals boutique. Loyalty program members can earn points that can be used to earn a discount on products. Proceeds from the recycling program are used to support Feed the Future, a program that works to alleviate world hunger.

According to bareMinerals, recyclable items include the following:

• Primer
• Mascara
• Lip gloss
• Lipstick
• Lip liner
• Makeup brushes
• Blush
• Eyeshadow
• Eyeliner
• Foundation
• Concealer
• Serum
• Cleanser
• Moisturizer
• Masks

For more information about bareMinerals and the recycling loyalty program, please see the program page here.

Khiel's

Khiel's also offers rewards points for consumers who recycle empty bottles. The points can be redeemed for travel-sized products. The program only accepts empty bottles from Khiel's at this time.

Customers can earn one point for each empty bottle and details about the program can be found on the Khiels's site here.

whole foods

Whole Foods holds an annual beauty product sale which allows consumers to buy products and reduce waste. Sometimes consumers can trade in empty bottles to receive free products depending on the annual sale guidelines.

Origins

Origins' recycling program accepts products from any brand. Origins is also partnered with the American Forests’ Global ReLeaf program, a nonprofit forest conservation program.

""We help erase waste! We recycle cosmetic empties from any brand, everyday."

-Origins

When Should You Throw Away or Recycle Skin Care Products?

Knowing when to throw away or recycle old products is simple when you know what to look for. The expiration dates on every product will often indicate when to let a product go. There is often a sticker with a small "M" next to it on a product indicating how many months the product will stay fresh for. If the texture or color of a natural product changes as well, that can indicate that the product is no longer fresh.

Recap: Where to Recycle Beauty Products

There are many options for recycling beauty products. Beauty Exchange programs, Pact Collective, Loop, TerraCycle, and blue beauty recycling programs are all great ways to recycle sustainably.