Your Guide to Beauty Brands With Recycling Programs

May 2024 ยท 4 minute read

One of the major downsides to the beauty industry as a whole is how much waste is produced. From one-use plastic bottles to non-refillable jars, there are plenty of ways the industry can (and should) improve. Thankfully, brands are finally stepping up to help offset the waste produced. Some offer reward point systems as an incentive to get consumers to drop off their empties. Others have offered to recycle other brands and all types of products. There are countless options from your favorite places to shop, so there's no excuse not to start recycling.

Below are 10 brands leading the charge and providing consumers with an easy and environmentally conscious way to dispose of their empties. Read on to learn more.

Amika

Amika

You can recycle any Amika haircare packaging thanks to its partnership with TerraCycle. Simply make an account with the recycling program, fill a box with your empties, download the free shipping label, and send it off. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Eva NYC

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Hair tools are one of the hardest items to recycle. But thanks to Eva NYC's partnership with TerraCycle, the haircare brand is now the first to launch an electronic hair tool recycling program to offset the million tons of e-waste generated each year.

The brand will accept any hair tool to recycle from any brand when you buy one of its hot hair tools, too. It will also accept any other Eva NYC products (even ones with pumps and aerosol cans). Those you can just ship to TerraCycle with its free shipping label, and you're good to go.

Noble Panacea

The Exceptional

Through its partnership with Terracycle, you can recycle all Daily Dose packages. When you buy any product or refills from the brand, you get a free envelope to collect your empty packing. Once the envelope is full, you contact the Noble Panacea Skin Concierge for a free shipping label.

SpoiledChild

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SpoiledChild offers consumers reusable dispensers and recyclable capsules for its sustainability efforts. All auto-refill products come with a pre-paid recycling envelope where you can send back your empties to be recycled. If you lose it, you can simply email hello@spoiledchild.com with the subject "Recycling Label," and the brand will email you a new one. 

Nordstrom

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Through Nordstrom's recycling program Beautycyle, shoppers can drop off any empty bottles to be recycled โ€” regardless of the brand or retailer. Currently, the major retailer is accepting the following: empty bottles, tubes, and caps from shampoo, conditioner, and styling products; empty bottles, tubes, and dispensers from cleansers, toners, and moisturizers; empty tubes, tubs, pans, palettes, and twist-up containers from all cosmetics; and sample trial-size tubes and vials.

The program currently excludes sample-sized and full-sized perfume empties, aerosol cans, nail polish, nail polish remover bottles, skin and hair electronics, and any non-empty containers. But it's a huge step in the right direction as far as recycling goes. You can find these drop-off boxes in every Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack.

Kiehl's

Kiehl's

For every Kiehl's empty you drop off in-store, you get 10 credit points towards a future purchase.

Alpyn Beauty

Alpyn Beauty

In a partnership with the non-profit Pact Collective, Alpyn Beauty is helping consumers with hard-to-recycle beauty product parts (i.e., the caps, pumps, and other components made from more than one material) with its Mail Back Collective Program. All you have to do is buy a $5 return label from Pact Collective and place five to 10 beauty empties from any brand into an envelope or box to send back. You'll get a $10 Alpyn Beauty code back to shop for future products.

L'Occitane

L'Occitane

In partnership with TerraCycle, L'Occitane offers consumers an easy way to recycle all beauty empties, even if they're not the brand's own. Simply find a participating L'Occitane store and drop off your products to be sent to be recycled. TerraCycle will take it from there.

Farmacy

Farmacy

Farmacy makes it super easy for consumers to recycle its products with an easy-to-follow step-by-step online guide. Simply look for the specific product you're thinking about recycling, take off the non-recyclable parts, click to request the free shipping label, and send it off.

Ilia

Ilia

In partnership with Pact Collective, Ilia lets consumers send up to 10 makeup empties โ€” regardless of brand โ€” a month to be sent in for recycling. Simply fill out a request form for a prepaid shipping label, place your empties in a box or envelope, and send it in for Pact to do the rest.

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