The Packaging Of Beauty Products Is Particularly Confusing.

Although sustainable beauty shopping is the ultimate goal, it is still important to recycle all empty beauty containers to avoid waste. In fact, 50% of people will not even try to recycle their empty containers because it is considered "inconvenient", explained Gina Ereira, resident beauty industry expert of TerraCycle. This so-called non commercialization leads to 2.7 billion plastic bottles being thrown into landfills every year.

Ereira explained: "The global cosmetics industry produces 120 billion units of packaging every year, including cardboard for packaging perfume, essence and moisturizing cream, causing 18 million acres of forest loss every year." Although recycling empty beauty and skin care packaging is not necessarily the easiest, it is very necessary for the sustainable development of the future. In addition, it is particularly important to avoid the "desire cycle", explained Danielle Jezienicki, Vice President of Sustainable Development of Grove Collaborative.

But the problem is: the packaging of beauty products is particularly confusing and difficult to recycle (think: mirror glass, cardboard cover, insert paper, etc.). Therefore, we asked recycling experts to analyze in detail how to ensure that your empty bottles are sent to the correct recycling plant.

Refer to municipal recycling regulations

First of all, you should always follow the local recycling laws to ensure that you follow the rules. You can also use resources such as recycling coach, How2Recycle and EARTH911 to check which recyclable items are accepted.

However, the bad news is that the Material Recycling Facility (mrf) has quite strict rules and does not accept most beauty products. Note that the universal recycle symbol (triangle) is not the only way to represent the recyclable nature of a container. Instead, pay attention to the label to better understand whether the product is recyclable.

"In fact, only plastic items with the number 1 or 2 printed on the arrow can be widely recycled in roadside recycling projects," Ereira said If so, your bathroom products can actually be thrown into the blue or green dustbin together with kitchen and household items, because the United States follows the single stream recycling plan (which means that plastic can be recycled together with other plastics, and glass can be recycled together with other glass).

Select a recycling plan

Don't you see the recycle sign? Fortunately, some environmentally conscious brands also provide internal recycling projects in their own facilities. TerraCycle, a private recycling company, has actually cooperated with Nordstrom in the BEAUTYCYCLE project. BEAUTYCYCLE is a free program that invites consumers to put their beauty and skin care product packaging (regardless of brand) at the recycling point in the store for recycling, including products that are not usually recyclable. Other brands with independent internal recycling function include Ganier, Bert Bee, eos, herbal essence, Oushudan, Josimaran and Paula, etc. These brands usually work with programs such as TerraCycle to properly dispose of waste.

Mono material recycling

Here is a rule of thumb for beauty product recycling: the less packaging material you have, the more likely it will be recycled. When more materials are used, the recycling process is expensive for the separation process, and time and money are wise. Even if you try to do this yourself, cross contaminated recyclables may not be accepted by local projects.

If your product is made of ordinary materials such as glass, plastic or cardboard, you can wash it and throw it directly into the corresponding recycling bin. Contrary to popular belief, there is no need to remove the adhesive label on recyclable products. This is usually achieved by special heating processes performed in many MRFs.

As for plastics, it is better to recycle a larger plastic container, because it is most likely to be recycled. However, Jezienicki still recommends staying away from plastic products, as they are still huge pollutants. "The reality is that plastic can only be recycled for two or three times, and the available quality will be lost, which means that switching to recycled plastic will only make the plastic disappear from the landfill or pollute the earth for one to two cycles."

What can't be recycled

Small products will actually stop the recycling process, so they are not widely accepted by recycling plants. This means anything under 2 inches, think about it: all travel and portable beauty products. In addition, dark packaged products cannot be recycled because they cannot be recognized by MRF machines. Also non recyclable are mirrors, magnets, cosmetic brushes, masks, packaging bags and extrudable tubes.

The following is a quick guide to non recyclable materials for reference:

Hair care: shampoo cap, hair conditioner cap, hair gel tube and cap, hair gel trigger, hair gel cap

Skin care: lipstick tube and bottle cap, soap dispenser and bottle cap, shower gel bottle cap, emulsion dispenser and bottle cap

Article source: https://article-realm.com/article/Computers/Mobile/28714-The-Packaging-Of-Beauty-Products-Is-Particularly-Confusing.html