How can I recycle my used cosmetics and toiletries packaging?
Packaging is an important part of cosmetics and personal care products, from displaying legal labelling requirements, supporting transport and distribution, to facilitating dispensing and use. Although considering the various aspects of packaging is important, it is what happens to it after a product has been used that determines its biggest impact on the environment.
Daily, we use cosmetics and toiletries in the bathroom; yet have you ever thought about what can be recycled after a product is finished with? The aim of recycling or recovery of packaging is to reduce the use of our natural resources and divert waste from landfill.
Which packaging can you recycle?
We regularly recycle packaging from the kitchen, but your daily beauty, grooming, personal care and bathroom products can also be recycled. These include perfume bottles, shampoo bottles, conditioner, shower gels, bubble baths, deodorant and hair sprays. When the product is finished, the empty packaging can be put into your household recycling bin for kerbside collection.
Recycling symbols
Information about recycling appears in many different forms on product labels, with not all labels indicating that an item will be recycled.
The most important source of information on what you can recycle in your area will be your Local Authority website.
And to understand more about what a label means, visit Recycle Now for a guide to recycling symbols and what they all indicate.
What is a "take-back scheme"?
What happens to our waste depends on the local facilities available for recovery or recycling of packaging waste. Also, some decorated items or containers with remnants of products can contaminate a recycling process and small items can fall through the mechanisms. As one solution available today however, many high-street chains now have collection boxes to collect small items of cosmetics packaging that are not accepted through household recycling. These are called “take-back schemes”.
To find your nearest cosmetic packaging recycling point:
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Visit the website RecycleNow.com: it carries a postcode locator, called “Recycling Locator Tool”, which lists the nearest recycling points and details the types of product waste accepted. In addition, you will also find a video and other useful information about household recycling.
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Alternatively, visit The British Beauty Council’s interactive map.
Recycling tips
Although recycling is often the preferred option, not all packaging can be recycled without using more resources than are saved. Here are some tips to help:
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Do not make a special trip by car to take packaging for recycling; the petrol or diesel fuel used will greatly outweigh anything saved by recycling. Always combine a trip to a recycling point with another journey.
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Wash empty bottles but do not use fresh, clean hot water. Again, the energy used to heat the water will outweigh what is being saved by recycling. Re-using dishwashing or soapy water is a better choice.
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If you have a kerbside collection system organised by your Local Authority, follow its advice on what types of waste are accepted and on separating the waste into different types, such as plastic, glass, metal tins or cans, etc. Most Local Authorities now accept empty aerosols.
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If you do not have kerbside collection, many national supermarket chains have facilities to take packaging waste. Local Authorities will also provide information on local recycling sites.
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Remember to recycle when you are out and about too. Recycling bins are much more common but if you can’t find one, then take the rubbish home with you.
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Lastly, it is as important to recycle from the bathroom as it is from the kitchen. And remember your toilet cannot support any other material than toilet paper and explicitly flushable wipes (check on packaging); other wipes, cotton pads, hygiene products etc. should never be flushed down the toilet.
Further information and guidance
The UK Government has created Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), an organisation that helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more. WRAP's Clear on Plastics Campaign for beauty products has great information on reducing, refilling and recycling in the bathroom.
The UK Plastics Pact, which is the first of a series of worldwide pacts supported by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy initiative, brings together organisations and individuals to change plastics for good. The UK Plastics Pact has produced a video to show why this is so important. CTPA, the trade association representing the cosmetics and personal care industry, is an official supporter of The UK Plastics Pact.
Further information can be found about recycling of aerosols on the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association (BAMA) and ‘The Lonely Aerosol’ campaign.
Recycling from the bathroom infographic (below) and available to download here.
