You know that clean beauty is good for you, but do you actually know what clean beauty is? It can be tricky to figure out, because “clean” and “natural” (the other word that's become ubiquitous in beauty marketing) can mean a lot of different things. That's because there's still no standard definition for these terms in the U.S.
Perhaps renewed pressure will help move things forward. The Editorial Board of The New York Times recently made a plea for reforms, pointing out that the laws the Food and Drug Administration uses to regulate products and ingredients haven’t been updated since 1938.
Despite the limited amount of oversight, the clean beauty market continues to grow. If you're a newbie, don't worry—shopping for clean products isn't as intimidating as you might think. Before you dive in, here are four key things to know.
1. It's important to read the labels—diligently
While we don't have crystal clear definitions, the word “clean” often means free of chemicals (like sulfates, parabens, and phthalates), and “natural” usually indicates plant-based ingredients (like jojoba oil or aloe), minerals (such as zinc oxide), and animal-based ingredients (like beeswax or milk). Despite those distinctions, the terms are frequently used interchangeably. (To avoid confusion, we'll stick with “clean” for the rest of this article.)
It's not a perfect system, but checking your labels for these specific ingredients or lack thereof can help you figure out what's legit and what might just be lip service.
Internationally, there are organizations that verify the source and quality of ingredients and certify natural and organic products, like EcoCert and NaTrue, which have official seals. There is also the International Standards Organization (ISO), which isn't a certifying body, but has developed consensus-based criteria for natural and organic cosmetics.
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The beauty brand Burt’s Bees has adopted the ISO standards, and as a result, the company is rolling out new product packaging that will list the percentage of natural origin on the front. Expect to see new, ISO-based ingredient claims (like “100% natural origin”) on your Burt’s Bees favorites, like the classic Beeswax Lip Balm shown above.
2. You can buy clean beauty products just about anywhere
Ten years ago, you couldn't just walk into any store and shop for clean beauty—you typically had to order from a speciality retailer and wait two weeks for your products to arrive by mail. Now, you can buy clean makeup and skincare at the same place you pick up toilet paper.
Target has expanded its clean offerings over the last few years, and now carries dozens of clean beauty products under $15. Even CVShas taken steps to attract more ingredient-conscious consumers. They're in the process of removing parabens, phthalates, and formaldehyde from their in-house brands by the end of this year.
Sephora recently rolled out a special “Clean at Sephora” seal to make it easier for shoppers to find items that don't contain iffy ingredients like formaldehyde and sodium lauryl sulfate. And if you're looking for luxury clean beauty products, you can't beat the selection at Credo.
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Shop Prestige Clean Beauty
Josie Maran Vibrancy Argan Oil Fresh Face Paint Palette
3. You don't need to toss your entire synthetic stash immediately
If you want to go the clean route, you can ease into it by replacing one thing at a time. Mascara is a great place to start, as it's best to use a new tube every three months. (We're into the Burt's Bees Nourishing Mascara pictured below). Then, just keep exploring your clean beauty options and incorporating new discoveries as you see fit. Taking baby steps will help ensure that you find products you actually like.
4. Clean beauty extends to a product's packaging, too
Beauty shoppers aren't just paying closer attention to what their products are made of—they're also scrutinizing the packaging. Many veteran clean brands have been mindful of waste for years; the packaging and labels on Burt's Bees Lip Balms and Lip Shimmer are cellophane free, and the company uses an average of 52% post-consumer recycled plastics across its entire portfolio. Today, more and more companies are getting into sustainable packaging.
The opportunity to buy a clean product that's also better for the planet is an added bonus for anyone who's really looking to make a difference not just for themselves, but also for the environment. When you're shopping, look for factors that impact how eco-friendly a product's packaging is, like whether it's made from recycled, biodegradable, or renewable materials.
Once you're finished with a product, recycle it curbside whenever possible (just look for the recycling symbol on the back). Many smaller products (like makeup tubes and compacts) may be too small to be captured by conventional recycling equipment, but shipping those items to a company like TerraCycle, which specializes in hard-to-recycle waste, is a great option. Terracycle partners with beauty and personal care brands (including Burt's Bees) to take back empty packaging—and it won't cost you a dime.
Including tips on how to recycle more than just plastic bottles.
Believe it or not, reducing the amount of trash you produce doesn't just positively impact the state of our landfills—it can also give your pocketbook a boost. Sure, it takes time to mend items that you can no longer use or to find new ways to repurpose them elsewhere in your home, but the end result is worth it. Recycling is one of the easiest ways to offset the amount of trash you produce and how much you throw out every day. If you simply can't reuse an item—be it old clothing or tarnished kitchenware—consider these six simple alternatives to sending them off to the landfill.
Mend Your Clothing
In 1929, the average middle-class man owned six work outfits; the average woman, nine—all built to last. The typical American today buys six items of clothing per month. And we dump an awful lot, too: 84 percent of unwanted attire ended up in landfills or in an incinerator in 2012, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. To streamline what you own (and, ultimately, what you trash), invest in fewer, higher-quality pieces, and when they wear thin, repair them. The Japanese tradition of sashiko is a form of mending that announces itself with artful designs in white thread. The sewing technique leaves shirt plackets and pant knees thicker and more durable. If you don't want to DIY it, shop at retailers that make mending part of their ethos. Nudie Jeans, for instance, offers free repairs on every pair of its jeans for life. Patagonia does the same for all of its gear, in addition to providing repair instructions, selling used and recycled clothing, and even more through its Worn Wear program.
Drop Off Plastic Bags
Did you know that retailers will actually take back the plastic bags you used to bring your purchases home? The ones that hold groceries, produce, and dry cleaning are all made of high- or low-density polyethylene, which most municipal recyclers can't accept. But many major retailers, including Target and Walmart, offer drop-off bins. Visit how2recycle.info to find participating stores.
Start Using Refillable Containers
Back in the day, the milkman picked up empty bottles. We may soon be able to return ice cream and other containers in the same fashion, thanks to programs underway at Nestlé, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and several other companies. Together with Terra-Cycle, they're testing a website called Loop, where you can buy food and toiletries in glass, metal, and reusable engineered-plastic vessels and mail them back for more. Nespresso already has a program like this underway: Shoppers can return its pods in prepaid envelopes, where the aluminum gets recycled, and the grounds get composted.
In the meantime, try repurposing glass bottles and jars you have, filling them with food you make or buy in bulk, like grains and beans.
Turn Denim Into Insulation
Take any stretched, faded, or outdated jeans to J.Crew, Madewell, or a Rag & Bone store. You'll get a discount on a new pair, and the discarded items will get transformed into home insulation as part of these companies' partnerships with Cotton Incorporated's Blue Jeans Go Green initiative.
Recycle Your Makeup Jars
L'Oréal, Garnier, Burt's Bees, L'Occitane, and more beauty brands are working with the eco-ninjas at TerraCycle to upcycle as much as possible, including tricky mascara tubes. Go to terracycle.com to find a collection point near you (like local drugstores) and drop off your empty packaging. TerraCycle will take it from there.
Get Composting
Got food scraps? Congratulations: Even in the city, you qualify to transform them into a fertilizer that can help feed the planet. Place fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells, tea leaves, paper tea bags, coffee grounds, and paper filters into an airtight countertop bin to put a lid on the smell—or keep it in a covered bowl in the freezer. Then, take your weekly bag to a municipal site or farmer's market stand, or start a pile in your backyard. Here's how you can get started.
More than half of Americans admit they throw away beauty products. Keep your out of the landfill with these simple changes.
Many companies are making the switch to eco-friendly packaging and incorporating more plant-based ingredients into their products. But there's also another side of green beauty, and it has to do with keeping unwanted purchases and used-up packaging from piling up on our planet. Here are five ways to shop smarter and give back to Mother Earth in the process.
Can’t reach the serum in the bottom of the jar? If a cotton swab doesn’t get it, consider a tool designed to keep products from going to waste. One to try: Recoup Beautiscoop, a wand with two spatulas that fit through the neck of small bottles. But don’t try to thin out the formula. “Water seriously impacts a product’s efficacy,” says Annie Jackson, cofounder of clean beauty brand retailer Credothis link opens in a new tab. Better to turn a bottle over, give it a shake, then let gravity do the rest
Buy It: Recoup Beautiscoop, $11this link opens in a new tab
Recycle Your Empties
Plastic bottles with an imprint of the number 1, 2, or 5 within a triangle are typically recyclable. Their caps, however, may not be. “Cosmetic packaging with mixed materials like metal and plastic are notoriously difficult to recycle,” says Ashlee Piperthis link opens in a new tab, an ecolifestyle expert. Happily, stores like Origins and Credo will recycle caps, empty tubes, and compacts—no purchase necessary. Some brands (like Burt’s Bees, L’Occitane, and Eos) have free recycling programs through TerraCyclethis link opens in a new tab, a company that creates new products from old packaging.
Give Away Old Products
Contact a local shelter to see if it will accept unopened or gently used products. Or send them to Project Beauty Sharethis link opens in a new tab, which will distribute lightly used products (depending on the kind) to marginalized women. Piper recommends disinfecting anything that has been in contact with your skin with a mist or two of rubbing alcohol. (Put it in a spray bottle for mess-free cleaning.)
Reconsider the Packaging
Avoid hard-to-recycle materials by looking for items with minimal packaging, such as bar soaps that often come wrapped in recyclable paper. Lush sells solid bars of skin-care staples like cleansers, toners, facial oils, and serums. If you’re stuck with nonrecyclable packaging, repurpose it. A small plastic tub that held eye cream, for instance, could hold jewelry, other tiny items, or even beauty products when you travel. “I clean small containers and fill them with my face cream when I’m traveling instead of going out and buying travel-size containers,” Piper says.
Learn the Beauty Aisle Lingo
Knowing the meaning of the words on product packaging can help you make better-informed shopping decisions. Here's a guide.
Organic: Products labeled “organic” contain at least 95 percent organic agricultural ingredients. Those claiming “made with organic ingredients” must have at least 70 percent.
Clean: There’s no regulated definition, but it most often means the formula is free of controversial ingredients, including parabens (a common preservative), sulfates (a cleansing agent), and phthalates (often found in synthetic fragrances).
Vegan: No animal by-products, such as honey and lanolin, are in vegan products.
Cruelty-Free: This indicates that the formulas and ingredients weren’t tested on animals. The gold standard is the Leaping Bunny Programthis link opens in a new tab, which audits brands’ supply chains. PETA’s cruelty-free seal requires a written statement affirming the company doesn’t test on animals.
An online “unveiling” recently of a Ventura beach bench made from recycled cigarette butts quickly generated more than 153 social media shares and dozens of comments on the Ventura Parks and Recreation Division Facebook page.
Plenty of web surfers took the obvious opportunity to crack punny jokes. Most were along the line of the official name given to the cigarette butt collection and recycling program organized by the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation, “Hold on to Your Butt.”
The city and the nonprofit have purchased and installed 103 metal containers in areas where cigarette butt litter was common, despite a city ordinance banning smoking in public areas.
Volunteers empty approximately 4,000 butts per month from these receptacles. Combined with the butts they collect from beach cleanup events, they have collected more than 270,000 butts in a little over two years, according to Juli Marciel, Surfrider’s coordinator for the program.
Volunteers put these collected butts into boxes with postage-paid labels supplied by Terracycle, a company recycling a wide variety of products.
Recycling by mail is too expensive to be viable for nearly any material, but in the case of cigarettes, the program is made possible through sponsorship by a product manufacturer. In fact, the sponsorship funds are sufficient not just to pay for the free mailers, but also to donate a dollar per pound of collected cigarettes to Keep America Beautiful, a nonprofit focused on litter prevention and cleanup. Surfrider also obtains sponsorships noted on these containers, helping fund the cost of the containers.
Some who comment on the sponsored recycling program see corporate responsibility, and others see “green washing” focused on improving perceptions of a product through the misleading appearance of eco-friendliness.
Lars Davenport, environmental specialist with the city of Ventura, points out a major benefit of the containers and the bench.
“Cigarette butts tend to be disposed wherever a cigarette is finished,” he said, noting the crucial role of convenience in preventing litter, “and some people seem to think their cigarette litter is not significant” because some of it is biodegradable. A bench made from butts drives home a message about the ubiquity of butts and their plastic content.
MORE: Try using Ventura County's sunshine to get your clothes dry
Indeed, Brian Hanck, a spokesperson for Terracycle, noted in an email, “We can put about 20% ... cellulose acetate (plastic from cigarette butts) … into a bench, and the benches are about 80 pounds, so we would estimate that 15,000 cigarette butts go into one park bench.”
Cigarette butts are the most common form of litter, according to the Keep America Beautiful website, which notes that putting them in planters and disposing of them in waterways is also litter; butts often wash out and end up on shores.
Terracycle also provides sponsor-subsidized mail-in recycling programs for other products, ranging from Burt’s Bees lip care products to Solo cups. Additionally, Terracycle has many non-sponsored programs, some of which seem designed to attract sponsors.
For example, for $102, you can purchase a small shipping box (11 inches by 11 inches by 20 inches) and a postage-paid return shipping label to send Terracycle your used chewing gum. According to Brian Hanck, the Terracycle spokesman: “Chewing gum is made from polymers which are synthetic plastics that do not biodegrade. The … gum is sanitized and blended, then converted into plastic pellets. These specific plastic pellets are usually used in creating new products made of rubber or plastic.”
Among other items, the company also has mail-in recycling programs for coffee capsules, pens, plastic gloves, detergent booster pouches, ready-made pasta bags, contact lenses and the blister packs containing the lenses.
Terracycle previously had sponsor funding for a program to recycle mixed plastics from beach clean-ups, but its website indicates the program is no longer “accepting new partners” for that program.
There's no denying we live in a culture that finally values self-care—even as far as collectively practicing on Sundays (looking at you, Instagram and Twitter!). And we'll be the first to admit that self-care matters: In a perfect storm of pouring out our energy to loved ones, careers, endless to-do lists, and life's curveballs, acts of self-care help us stay anchored and keep our cups filled.
We're also living at a time when it's more important than ever to take care of our planet. And though the large-scale efforts needed to reverse shifting weather patterns, the water crisis, and so on might seem overwhelming, experts agree that individual action—even tiny tweaks to our daily life—is just what it takes to turn things around.
Rethink self-care (as earth-care!).
The good news is that there are lots of ways to actively participate in both nourishing our spirit and practically caring for the earth. Need a little inspiration? Read on below for three self-care ideas that involve simple acts of kindness for our earth:
1. Grow your favorite herbs or flowers, or lend a hand at your local farm or rooftop garden.
Hear us out: Gardening doesn't have to be an intense, time-consuming activity. If you've got a yard and the space for it, just the practice of tending to a few of your favorite flowers or herbs and watching its transformation isn't just calming and mood-boosting, but it can help remind you to slow down, practice mindfulness, and meditate on growth and life's seasons.
If you're an apartment dweller or don't have space for a garden, you can still reap the benefits of connecting with nature and doing your part by volunteering at a local garden. Using your hands to help harvest produce from the earth's soil, you'll engage your senses, feel a deep connection with the world around us through the foods we eat, and—according to the wide research done on the effects of spending time in a nature-rich environment—feel less stressed, more creative, and just plain happier.
Beyond getting to cook with veg and herbs that are 100 percent local and have traveled zero miles to get to your kitchen, planting a variety of flowers like calendula, lavender, and marigolds, and herbs like mint, rosemary, oregano, and thyme helps give the declining honeybee population and other pollinators a pesticide-free source of food. Bee extinction rates are currently 1,000 times higher than at other times in history, according to the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.
The conservation partner of Burt's Bees is now mapping 6,000 species of vital bee populations—one of the beauty and skin care brand's biggest environmental causes.
2. Make one plant-based meal a day.
You've heard this before, and it won't be the last time: Reducing your meat intake and embracing a plant-based diet is one of the best things you can do for both your health and the environment.
"Global consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes will have to double, and consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar will have to be reduced by more than 50 percent," reads the 2019 summary report from the EAT-Lancet Commission, a group formed to research the future of food and sustainability. The team—which includes specialists from 16 different countries in fields like agriculture, nutrition, and the environment—were tasked with creating guidelines for a planetary health diet. That diet is comprised of 50 percent fruits and vegetables and 50 percent a mix of plant protein, plant oils, and whole grains. Their report notes that animal protein should be optional and consumed very minimally.
Here's why: The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the meat industry alone generates almost one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to climate change. What's more, producing meat also uses up a ton of water—up to 2,500 gallons of water go into making a single pound of beef.
Besides the environmental impact, the case against factory farms and inhumane treatment of animals raised for food is another solid reason to consider leaning toward more plant-based meals whenever we can.
So for the omnivores out there, set an intention of eating fully plant-based during one meal a day—even going meatless one day a week for a year is the equivalent of not driving for three entire months. Check out some of our food director's favorite veggie-heavy recipes for a little inspiration.
3. Start building a sustainable beauty regimen.
These days, more and more brands like Burt's Bees are doing their part in protecting the future of the planet, so it's easier than ever to build a skin care routine with products that use more responsibly sourced ingredients. Do your research to see what your favorite brands are doing to help nurture and save the environment:
Chances are you already own a stick of Burt's Bees Lip Balm—that's great news because you're supporting a company that's invested in making greener moves, from trimming up to 50 percent of excess packaging in their products to committing to sustainable practices in their manufacturing. Not to mention their lip balm tubes are recyclable, either through Burt's Bees' Recycle on Us program or TerraCycle. Start small, and you can begin to make an impact with a routine you're already doing every day.
That's big, force-of-nature thinking—even if the ritual feels small and inconsequential. Make 2019 the year you practice self-care that also cares for the planet. Because if a regular self-care practice can radically change your life, just imagine what it can do for the planet, too.
Beauty editors and writers are used to getting late-night (or early-morning or literally 24-hours-a-day) texts with zero context and burning questions. No, we don't mean of the "U up?" variety. These inquiries are about skin freak-outs, product recommendations and makeup mishaps... and we've seen 'em all. With that in mind, we welcome you to our series, "Fashionista Beauty Helpline," where we address the beauty questions we get asked most frequently — and run them by experts who really know their stuff.
The beauty editors' "U up?"
Whether because of a now-regretted subscription to a monthly beauty box, short-lived fling with a 10-step K-beauty skin-care routine or a minor obsession with YouTube makeup tutorials, chances are you're the (not-so-proud) owner of more moisturizers, serums, powders and palettes than you can possibly use. And let's not forget that these things expire! But before you clear off that #shelfie and pare down your products, it's best to have a game plan in place — ideally one that doesn’t involve a trash bin.
There are three main options for decluttering your beauty collection the eco-friendly way: reselling, donating and recycling. The right choice for you depends on the specific products you have on hand; whether they're brand new, gently used or mostly used; and just how generous you're feeling.
WHERE TO RE-SELL UNWANTED BEAUTY PRODUCTS
"Recommerce" has all but taken over the fashion industry, and the second-hand shopping trend is extending its influence into the beauty space, too; with sites like Poshmark, eBay and Glambot all allowing beauty products to be bought and sold via online platforms.
To unload unused (as in, never opened and never swatched) beauty products, head to Poshmark or eBay. Both platforms are user-friendly and give you full control of your products, from the pictures to the price. Simply start an account, snap a few photos, upload them to site with a short description and wait for the sales roll in. While Poshmark doesn't allow the sale of liquids of any kind (that includes nail polish and perfume), eBay is a little more lenient with its guidelines: Unused fragrances and aerosols, like hair sprays and dry shampoo, are fine to sell and ship domestically.
But your used skincare and cosmetics aren't necessarily destined for the dump. Glambot, an online marketplace for all things makeup, accepts both brand new products and those that are "up to 50 percent used" — including sample sizes — but the site does have a pretty specific set of guidelines. It only takes items from a handful of high-end beauty brands (no drugstore steals here) with labels in "sellable condition," and doesn't accept products that fall under the umbrellas of hair care, body care, nail care or full-size fragrance. The platform handles product uploads and shipping for you, though, which is a bonus. To sell through Glambot, you can request a prepaid shipping label and mail in a "sell package" for consideration. According to the company, "Sell packages must contain at least 20 full size, qualifying items; international packages must contain 30."
If all else fails, check out Reddit: The community content platform boasts Skincare Exchange and Makeup Exchange pages with tens of thousands of users, where you can share any item, new or used, with community members who may be willing to buy or swap products.
That being said, it's very much worth noting that dermatologists warn against buying or exchanging used beauty products through Glambot and Reddit (or by any other means, for that matter). "Unless the 'used' product is in its original packaging, unopened and not expired, sharing skin-care or beauty products of any sort is not recommended," says Dr. Neil Sadick of Sadick Dermatology. "Our skin is a great host of personalized bacteria; whether we have acne, or eczema or an untidy bathroom dresser, the bacteria grow and thrive, especially in dark containers within a moist environment." Something as simple as not fully closing the lid on a face mask or testing the feel of a new makeup brush can spread these microorganisms. "You don't know if the used lipstick will give you a cold sore, or the mascara an eye infection," Dr. Sadick says. In other words, it's better to be safe than sorry.
WHERE TO DONATE UNWANTED BEAUTY PRODUCTS
If you're not concerned about earning cash for your cosmetics, donation is the way to go. And while foundations like Goodwill or The Salvation Army don't actually accept beauty products, there are plenty of speciality charities across the country that do.
Share Your Beauty, an offshoot of the Family to Family organization, launched in 2014 with the help of beauty influencer Lara Eurdolian of Pretty Connected. The initiative distributes unopened, unused beauty and personal care products to "homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and foster care agencies," according to Pam Koner, the Executive Director of Family to Family. The organization works directly with skin-care, makeup and hair-care brands, as well as industry influencers, to collect excess product; but it also accepts donations from the general public. "Individual donors can ship their beauty products to us or leave them at a drop off point in New York City," explains Koner.
Another option for new, unused and non-expired self-care products is Beauty Bus, an organization that brings in-home and in-hospital beauty services to those "whose illness or condition prevents them from accessing a salon." The donated beauty items are used for both pop-up salon treatments and goodie bags, so that every client ends their service with a beauty-boosting care package. Donations can be mailed to the organization’s headquarters in Santa Monica, California.
If you're saving a stash of cosmetics you've only used once or twice, Project Beauty Share can help you downsize. The charity accepts "lightly used" skin care, cosmetics, hair care and hygiene products and distributes them to disadvantaged women across the country when you ship donations to their Washington sorting center.
The easiest option? Check in with local homeless and women's shelters in your area to see if they accept personal care drop-offs, and make a philanthropic pit-stop on your next lunch break.
Just keep in mind that even if an organization accepts used beauty products, it's never charitable to donate your germs. Anything that comes in a jar that you dip your fingers into shouldn't be given away — it's just too risky. The same goes for cream blushes and eye shadows (bacteria thrives in cream formulas but can't survive in powders), mascaras and anything applied directly to the skin with a wand, like lip gloss. These products are best passed along to friends and family members (hey, they might be more inclined to overlook the germ factor) or tossed.
WHERE TO RECYCLE UNWANTED BEAUTY PRODUCTS
Here's a not-so-fun fact: Most cosmetics are considered "hazardous waste," which means you shouldn't dump the remaining contents of a nearly-empty product down the drain or rinse empty beauty containers in the sink, where they can contaminate the water supply. Instead, call your local disposal center and ask if it accepts cosmetics as hazardous waste. If it doesn't, make sure to dispose of the contents directly into a trash bin destined for a landfill, and wipe down the container with a paper towel in lieu of rinsing it out.
As far as packaging goes, recycling is key. "Each year, more than 120 billion units of packaging contribute to one quarter of landfill waste, much of it produced by the global cosmetics industry," says Gina Herrera, the U.S. Director of Brand Partnerships at TerraCycle. "The complex plastics of squeeze tubes, cream tubs, eyeliner and mascara wands, body wash bottles and powder compacts can take over 400 years to break down in a landfill." That's exactly why TerraCycle exists. The national recycling program accepts virtually all makeup, skin-care and hair-care packaging — from bottles to pumps to trigger heads — and makes sure each piece gets recycled through the proper channels.
TerraCycle offers a few different ways to take advantage of its planet-saving services. One is the Zero Waste Box program. "Individuals can purchase a box specially designed for beauty products and packaging," explains Herrera. "When the box is full, they return it to TerraCycle with a pre-paid shipping label for recycling." Or, you can drop off your #empties to a participating TerraCycle location. Through a partnership with physical L'Occitane stores, "We have a network of convenient drop-off locations across the country for consumers to drop off their empty beauty packaging," says Herrera. TerraCycle simply asks that all excess product has been removed and that the packaging is not wet when sent in or dropped off.
Once your bathroom cabinets are free and clear of clutter, the final step is to keep the first initial of "the three Rs" in mind: reduce. And when you do need to restock your #shelfie, turn to brands that actively offer sustainable solutions. "Currently TerraCycle is working with EOS, Burt's Bees, L’Occitane and Garnier, to name just a few," Herrera reveals (and you can find more eco-friendly brands here). "Through their relationship with us, all of these brands have created a viable system to recycle their packaging and help save the environment."
Here are a few ideas that should help point you in the right directions. This is by no means a comprehensive list. Please add suggestions on our Facebook page and let other locals know other easy ways to avoid filling the landfill faster... Waste collected through the Terracycle program turns cigarettes and their plastic package wrappers into plastic pallets and compost.
One of the reasons, I started this whole living off beach trash saga, was to demonstrate how much stuff, we throw away, how little people know or care about plastic pollution, our beaches and zero waste... Technically, you could pick up 95% of the beach trash and recycle it. The Terracycle Beach Clean Up Program recycles most of the beach trash seen.
Burt’s Bees’ new Recycle On Us program gives consumers the opportunity to recycle any and all Burt’s Bees packaging, nationwide. In partnership with TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams, the program allows anyone to recycle their product packaging through a free mail-in program, regardless of any regional recycling limitations.
For 48 years, Earth Day has served as an opportunity for industry influencers to share best practices and boost their brands' status as environmental advocates. In years past, companies and organizations have highlighted efforts to reduce emissions or clean up litter, but this year, there is special focus on combating plastic pollution.
From recycling robots to educational campaigns, Waste Dive compiled the following list of how some stakeholders chose to observe Earth Day 2018.
TerraCycle
The unique recycling company added two more partners to its list of free specialty recycling programs ahead of Earth Day. Consumers of select Burt's Bees products and Hasbro toys and games can receive shipping labels to send their collections to New Jersey for a new life in various plastic products. Both programs will be funded by the manufacturers.
You know that clean beauty is good for you, but do you actually know what clean beauty is? It can be tricky to figure out, because “clean” and “natural” (the other word that's become ubiquitous in beauty marketing) can mean a lot of different things. That's because there's still no standard definition for these terms in the U.S.
Perhaps renewed pressure will help move things forward. The Editorial Board of The New York Times recently made a plea for reforms, pointing out that the laws the Food and Drug Administration uses to regulate products and ingredients haven’t been updated since 1938.
Believe it or not, 
