World Recycling Week: How to recycle your beauty packaging (‘cos it matters)
It has been a mission of ours for, oh, forever, to get people to think about recycling beauty products the way we all do our kitchen and office stuff.
Well, hello! Because at last – AT LAST! – the beauty world is waking up to this, too. Many beauty names are making great strides on this front, offering refills and recycling options. The theme of this year’s week is ‘Step It Up’, and we’re highlighting one particular beauty brand, ZERO by Skin Academy, that is tackling the problem well and seems to be making it really clear and easy to make sure that your empties have a second life.
First, some fairly scary facts, from ZERO’s website (which, hurrah, they properly reference, too)…
• Did you know that plastic bottles take around 500 years to decompose?
• The average person in the UK uses 117 plastic bottles per year, which equates to a staggering 7.7 billion bottles nationwide.
• Of the 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard used annually in the UK, 7 million tonnes is disposed of as landfill.* To give an idea of just how much that it is, if you were to weigh all that, it would be heavier than the great Pyramid of Giza.
ZERO’s packaging has been carefully thought through to be as recyclable as possible, including tubes made from sugarcane, compostable bamboo lids, while their boxes are made from 15% recycled card (which for now is the highest recycled content they can use without having ink issues when printing). They point out that their boxes are, meanwhile, certified to the PEFC Chain of Custody Standard, with its strict sustainability standards.
But on their website, you will also find a really clear recycling guide for the types of products you might have in your bathroom.
How to recycle a glass jar Rinsing your jar is the first step – leftover liquids and creams can contaminate other recyclables which may mean they aren’t recycled. It’s then ready to place into your glass recycling bin at home or at your local disposal centre.
How to recycle tubes Snip off the top and scrape it out with a brush or a spoon or give it a thorough rinse. Once empty place in the plastic recycling bin – check your local collection tips about whether to leave the lid on or off.
How to recycle bamboo lids (which are used on Zero by Skin Academy’s packaging) Bamboo lids are compostable, so give them a rinse and place in your garden waste bin. The shive that comes between the lid and the glass jar can be washed off and placed into the glass and plastic bin.
How to recycle the outer boxes Fully recyclable, all you need to do is flatten the boxes and place them in your paper and cardboard bin.
We find it really useful to keep a specific small bin or basket in the bathroom for empties. Hand on heart, there isn’t so much as an instruction leaflet that goes to landfill, from our houses – and nor should there be.
Meanwhile, check out ZERO’s range. They not only deserve a gold (or maybe it should be green) star for clarity, but it would be nice if other brands used this ZERO’s as a benchmark, when it comes to communicating their eco credentials.
PS See below for the line-up of what is also a very affordable range.
Follow them @beautybyzero on Insta
For more about recycling generally, visit wrap.org.uk
