If you haven’t noticed, waste is seriously important right now. From cutting back on the amount of product we use to switching to refills, there’s no doubt we’re all desperate to minimise the amount of beauty waste we’re producing. And it seems brands are finally started to respond. While some are working to reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans, others are switching up their packaging to create fully recyclable bottles.
It’s understandable that you’ve probably never thought twice about chucking away your food waste. It’s soggy, it smells and it’s just pretty gross. But what if we told you that a lot of the ‘non-edible’ food waste that we chuck could be repurposed in our beauty regimes?
It turns out that coffee grounds, fruit stones, nut shells and other residues contain a plethora of skin-loving ingredients – ingredients that are far too potent to simply rot away in landfill. Luckily, to save us the job of having to rifle through the bins to hook out the good stuff, the industry is catching on.
Coffee shops far and wide are disposing of an abundance of coffee grounds every day – coffee grounds that could potentially revolutionise your skincare regime. Back in 2015, William and Anna Brightman launched UpCircle – a brand that turns food waste into natural beauty products. It started with turning disposed coffee grounds from coffee shops around London into face and body scrubs. And, when they discovered that the UK produced 23,000 tonnes of fruit stone waste in 2012 alone, they knew something had to be done there too. Fast-forward to now and UpCircle has saved over 100 tonnes of food waste from landfill. They’re good through and through, too. “We are committed to leaving the world better than we found it and that involves using as little plastic in our products as possible. With regards to our ingredients, we only use COSMOS and Soil Association approved ingredients – No SLS, SLEs, parabens, mineral oil, parfum or sulfates. We are also proudly cruelty-free, natural and vegan,” reveals Anna.
So what really are the skin benefits of food waste? Let’s clear things up – we’re not talking about soggy potato skins or brown banana peels. We’re talking about non-edible leftover ingredients that actually house a whole host of skincare benefits. From moisturising oils to potent antioxidants, this is the food waste that could revolutionise your skincare regime…
COFFEE GROUNDS
Besides acting as a seriously effective physical exfoliator, coffee grounds are also jam-packed with antioxidant-rich caffeine which is thought to help boost blood flow. In fact, antioxidant levels only get higher once the coffee has been brewed. Anna explains: “We provide a natural, sustainable alternative to toxic plastic microbeads, the tiny plastic balls used as exfoliators in everyday cosmetics and toiletries like shower gels and toothpastes. How? By repurposing premium Arabica coffee grounds from London cafes into our natural, sustainable body and face scrubs.”
ARGAN SHELLS
Argan shells are a natural by-product in the production of argan oil and are actually incredibly rich in nourishing antioxidant vitamin E, making them ideal for delivering moisture to dehydrated skin. Once the discarded argan shells have been ground into a fine powder and combined with other nourishing natural ingredients, the moisturising benefits are impossible to deny.
OLIVE STONES
Skin looking a little congested? UpCircle have used the finely-ground powder of discarded olive stones to great a detoxifying face mask. Combined with white kaolin clay to unclog, coconut powder and baobab oil, the olive powder acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory. Much better on your face than being processed for landfill, hey?
APRICOT STONES
Apricot oil is often used in the beauty industry for its softening, calming and hydrating properties. However, once eked of their oils, the stones themselves are simply disposed of – despite the fact they are still rich in deeply-nourishing vitamin E.