I can’t be the only person shocked to learn that over 90% of plastic is not recycled. I’ve dutifully tossed all my plastic containers in the recycling bin for years and just knew that I was doing my part to reduce the amount of plastic that ended up in landfills. As it turns out, that’s not always the case.

According to NPR, most plastic is not recycled because it’s very expensive to clean, sort and melt used plastic. It’s actually much cheaper to just use new plastic. This makes recycling programs that actually divert plastic from landfills so vital to preserving our environment. While recycling is not an easy endeavor, more brands are adopting recycling programs as part of their overall sustainability efforts, and we love to see it.

Here are the brands, retailers and organizations that are making it easier and more convenient to recycle your beauty products:

1. MAC Cosmetics

   MAC was a pioneer in beauty product recycling. Their iconic Back 2 MAC program was one of the many features that made this brand so innovative. I have so many fond memories of depotting MAC eyeshadows and lipsticks into palettes so that I could exchange the empty packaging for a new lipstick or eyeshadow. Not only did the recycling program help reduce plastic waste, it built major brand loyalty. Talk about incentivizing repeated purchases!

2. Rebundle

   Rebundle is a phenomenal brand that makes non-toxic, biodegradable braiding hair. Genius! If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I tried all kinds of protective styles last year. I was thrilled to learn of an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic synthetic braiding hair. As part of it’s overall mission to reduce plastic waste, Rebundle also offers a recycling program for synthetic braiding hair. I love what this brand is about, and I’ll be purchasing some braiding hair once I’m off the waiting list.

3. Summer Fridays

   Summer Fridays is only a few years old but this influencer-founded brand has some amazing skincare products. Their appeal doesn’t stop with the dreamy aesthetic and effective formulas. The recycling program lives up to the brand’s ethos of clean beauty in the broadest sense. Once a person has 5 empty products, they email Summer Fridays for a return label and they ship the empty containers. Similar to MAC, Summer Fridays customers receive a free gift after returning their empties. In my opinion “clean beauty” isn’t just about the ingredients, it includes the overall impact on the body as well as the environment, so it’s great to see a smaller brand taking this step.

4. John Lewis

   John Lewis, a major UK retailer, launched BeautyCycle in 2019 to allow customers to recycle their empty makeup containers. Customers can recycle nearly every type of empty container, and are rewarded with £5 off for every five empty containers they return.

5. Nordstrom

   Nordstrom also recently launched BeautyCycle and the retailer has drop boxes at every Nordstrom location in the US.

6. Pact Collective

   Pact Collective is a non-profit beauty recycling program that just launched on April 21, 2021. Hudson’s Bay, Credo Beauty, MOB Beauty and Element Packaging partnered to form Pact Collective, which is aimed at reducing the plastic waste produced by the beauty industry. Hudson’s Bay stores in Canada and Credo Beauty locations in the US will have drop off locations for empty beauty containers. The formation of Pact Collective illustrates that companies that produce waste have a responsibility to reduce the waste they create.

It’s encouraging to see these beauty brands and retailers stepping up to provide options to recycle empty containers. I think the next step is to reduce the use of virgin plastic and shift towards more recyclable or biodegradable packaging.

What do you think the beauty industry should do to reduce plastic waste? Let me know in the comments!