If you’ve always had good intentions to recycle your old makeup but never quite got round to it, no more excuses because L’Oreal have now made this step an absolute breeze.
From today, the cosmetic giant has introduced makeup recycling bins across 1,000 stores in the UK as part of its “Make-up Not Make Waste” campaign to be greener.
The Maybelline brand is spearheading the project with the help of recycling firm TerraCycle which will see recycling bins installed in participating stores including Tesco, Superdrug, Boots and Sainsbury’s. So, while you stock up on new products, you can drop off your old ones and the bins accept any brand of makeup, even if you haven’t purchased it from the shop you’re in. SO EASY, right?
What exactly can you recycle in Maybelline’s new bins? Well, they’ll accept compacts, eyeshadow palettes, foundation or concealer tubes, mascara, eyeliner and lip products. Makeup brushes, nail polish and aerosols can’t be recycled currently.
After collection from the shops, the used products will be sorted, cleaned and then turned into plastic pellets, which can be used to make other products, such as outdoor furniture.
It’s not the first recycling incentive introduced by L’Oreal, Garnier and Kiehl’s – also owned by the brand – already offer customers rewards for returning empty products to stores to be recycled.
Vismay Sharma, country manager of L’Oreal UK and Ireland, told the BBC that the firm had the “ability to make impact at real scale” and they want to “lead the way” in creating new beauty habits.
According to research by Maybelline of more than 1,000 consumers, nearly half of makeup wearers didn’t know that you could recycle beauty products.
However, environmental campaign group Greenpeace said that “recycling will only ever get us so far”.
Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, told the BBC: “Given the almost daily torrent of research revealing the extent to which plastic pollution is damaging our planet, it’s frustrating to see a major plastic producer like the make-up industry fail to commit to reduce its overall plastic footprint.”
He added, “Without action plans to move towards reusable packaging and reduce single-use plastic production, companies cannot claim they are doing enough.”