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How to reduce face mask pollution, according to experts
Experts recommend how to properly dispose of single-use face masks, and explain why they’re having harmful effects on the environment
Throughout the past year, face masks have become one of the most prominent symbols of the coronavirus pandemic, both on our faces and, according to experts, in pollution scattered across the planet’s beaches, streets and bodies of water. OceansAsia, a nonprofit marine conservation advocacy organization, recently conducted research about how many single-use face masks are likely to have entered the world’s oceans in 2020. Overall, the organization estimates that more than 1.5 billion face masks entered oceans in 2020, resulting in an additional 4,680 to 6,240 metric tons (about 5,160 to 6,880 U.S. tons) of marine plastic pollution.
SKIP AHEAD Face mask pollution and the environment
When single-use masks are not disposed of properly, they pose an environmental risk, said Teale Phelps Bondaroff, director of research for OceansAsia. Single-use face masks — both the disposable kind the general public wears and medical-grade surgical masks — are often made with polypropylene plastic. When that plastic breaks up into smaller pieces, it can take as long as 450 years to decompose, Phelps Bondaroff said. And while reusable cloth face masks are a more eco-friendly option, disposable masks are both an acceptable face covering, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and CDC-recommended for double masking.
It’s crucial to learn how to properly discard face masks in order to ensure they don’t end up in oceans, lakes and rivers, said Erin Simon, head of plastic waste and business at the World Wildlife Fund. The goal is not to change the disposable mask space as it is a key part of medical safety protocols, Simon highlighted, noting environmental experts more specifically advocate for the proper management of disposable face masks after they’re used.
“The challenge is that now the general public is using them and not disposing of them correctly,” Simon said. “In this case, the appropriate choice is the trash or landfill.”
We talked to experts about how face mask pollution is harming the environment in the wake of the pandemic, and what we can do to help. We also rounded up a list of eco-friendly reusable face masks from brands like Rothy’s and TenTree.
Youth and Kids face masks in packs of two, three and ten. The masks have adjustable ear loops and a filter pocket, and United By Blue also sells filters. Masks are made from a fabric blend including hemp, organic cotton, recycled polyester and Tencel, a type of rayon fabric. Masks are sold in a variety of styles, from Chambray and Coral to Cedar Rose.
Eco-friendly face masks
Experts said reusable cloth face masks are a more sustainable option than single-use disposable masks, and some companies further incorporate recycled fabric into their masks, as well as organic materials. The face masks below meet the CDC’s guidance in regards to reusable face coverings and are made with the environment in mind, according to the brands behind them.Best eco-friendly reusable face masks
TenTree The Protect Mask
The outer layer of TenTree’s double-layered face mask is constructed from hemp and recycled polyester fabric, while the inside lining is made from organic cotton and hemp. Masks are designed with a pocket filter and come in a pack of three. The color and pattern of the washable masks vary across packs, and they come in two sizes: Small/Medium and Large/Extra Large.United By Blue Salvaged Hemp Face Mask
United By Blue makes Large/Adult, Small/Avocado Organic Cotton Face Mask
Avocado face masks are made with two layers of organic cotton and are certified by the Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS), a textile processing standard for organic fibres. Masks feature a filter pocket and can be purchased with elastic ear loops or head tie straps. They are sold in packs of four for adults and kids, and come in styles like Sunbeam Yellow, Northern Lights and more.Rothy’s The Mask
Rothy’s machine-washable masks are made from the brand’s rPET thread, a material derived from single-use plastic water bottles. Masks feature elastic straps and microfiber swatches on the inside for added comfort against the face.They come in a pack of two and are available in colors like Black, Blue and Pink and more. Rothy’s also sells kids masks and a Mask Pack that includes a mask and a pouch you can store your mask in.EcoMask Filtering Face Mask
When you’re done using EcoMask’s reusable face mask, you can send it back to the brand and it will recycle the mask for you. EcoMask’s face coverings are constructed from post-consumer recycled materials and boast five-layers of filtration. The mask comes in sizes ranging from Extra Small to Extra Large and are available in five colors: Black, Sage, Rose, Royal Blue and Navy Blue.Synergy Organic Clothing Adult Face Mask
Synergy Organic Clothing’s face masks are made from three layers of GOTS certified organic cotton and feature adjustable ear loops. Masks come in packs of two and are sold in kids and adult sizes. Adult masks are available with screen-printed designs like moons and stars, and some are constructed from deadstock — unsold items — so their exact colors and patterns vary.Best eco-friendly disposable face masks
VIDA 3-Ply Face Mask
When you purchase VIDA’s disposable face mask, it will arrive with a prepaid label that allows you to send your used masks back to the brand in their original envelope — the brand recycles masks it receives. VIDA’s disposable masks feature an adjustable nose clip and come in a Floral pattern. Masks are sold in packs of 10 to 1,000, and they can be worn under one of the brand’s reusable cotton masks while double masking.VIDA KN95 Face Mask
As featured in our guide to KN95 masks, VIDA sells KN95 masks that are approved under the Food and Drug Administration’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for KN95 masks. They come in colors like Black, White and Olive, and after using them, you can send them back to the brand to be recycled.Face mask pollution and the environment
The pandemic triggered an estimated global use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves every month, according to estimates in a 2020 study published in Environmental Science and Technology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal by the American Chemical Society. Simon said the study also estimated that 30 percent more waste would be produced in 2020 compared to 2019. The study states that this increase is in part due to the “increased the use of PPE by the general public” during the pandemic, and thus getting thrown out as municipal solid waste, or everyday trash or garbage. Unfortunately, not everyone disposes of single-use face masks and gloves property. Simon said she’s seen masks and gloves dropped and forgotten about and, if they’re thrown away in an outdoor garbage can without a lid, they can fall out or be blown away by wind. Mark Benfield, a professor at Louisiana State University's department of oceanography and coastal sciences, studies plastic pollution in Louisiana and is now investigating face mask pollution. He said most waste created on land ultimately makes its way into a body of water — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that “80 percent of pollution to the marine environment comes from the land.” Over dozens of years (or more, depending on the material), that waste breaks down and is absorbed into water and soil, for example. As plastic — which partially comprises disposable face masks — degrades, it releases into the water hundreds to millions of micro plastics, pieces of plastic that are less than 5 millimeters in length, according to NOAA. Benfield, who developed a methodological survey with colleagues to collect data about PPE litter around the world, said micro plastics are especially dangerous because they’re small enough to pass through filters and end up in our drinking water, or get absorbed into the bodies of animals that humans eat, like fish. Marine animals can become tangled in disposable face masks or mistake them for food, Benfield added. Both situationsWhy disposable face masks can’t be easily recycled
Simon said traditional local recycling programs tend to only sort “like with like,” meaning they group items that are made from the exact same materials — such as one type of plastic, glass or paper — and then recycle those items together. A disposable face mask, however, is made from different materials that cannot be easily separated. Phelps Bondaroff said single-use face masks usually consist of metal for the nose piece, cotton and elastic for the ear loops and melt-blown polypropylene for the main structure that covers the mouth and nose. According to recycling company TerraCycle and experts we’ve consulted, single-use personal protective equipment like masks and gloves often don’t get recycled through local programs in towns and cities because of the associated cost. However, Phelps Bondaroff noted that companies like TerraCycle have begun to devise strategies and specified programs for recycling disposable face masks. TerraCycle offers a PPE recycling program through which you can collect items like disposable face masks and gloves in a box that’s available to purchase through the company (TerraCycle does not accept reusable face masks or PPE from healthcare facilities). When the box is full, you can send it back to TerraCycle, which then sorts materials and sends them to third-party processing partners that recycle them into usable forms. For example, Terracycle states that “The polypropylene-dominant mixture from the face mask is densified into a crumb-like raw material that’s used in plastic lumber and composite decking applications.”How to mitigate the impacts of face mask pollution
Phelps Bondaroff said the best way to mitigate the impacts of (and help prevent) face mask pollution is disposing of them correctly and ensuring they do not enter the Earth’s ecosystem. He said it’s important to throw away face masks in garbage cans that have a lid and a garbage bag that will be tied together when it’s removed to keep them from falling out or blowing away. Phelps Bondaroff also mentioned he’s seen posts circulating on social media from environmental and activist organizations recommending we cut the straps of face masks’ ear loops before throwing them away. He said this could help prevent animals from getting tangled in the ear loops, and decrease the chances of them getting stuck on trees and plants. But WWF's Simon noted it’s more important to spend time finding a covered, lined garbage can. “I would argue that in that moment that you're taking to cut the ear loops of your face mask, just put it in the trash,” Simon said.TerraCycle and Sanofi launch recycling programmes
21 Apr 2021 (Last Updated April 21st, 2021 13:42)
Sanofi Consumer Healthcare has partnered with US-based recycling initiative TerraCycle to make its product packaging and aerosol containers recyclable.
Sanofi Consumer Healthcare has partnered with US-based recycling initiative TerraCycle to make its product packaging and aerosol containers recyclable.
Two programmes will be introduced to allow customers to recycle empty Gold Bond, Cortizone-10 and Selsun Blue packaging.
The first recycling programme is for Gold Bond aerosol spray cans. Consumers can participate in the programme by signing up online on TerraCycle.
The programme page provides instructions on how to ship empty aerosol containers to TerraCycle for recycling.
The second programme is for other Gold Bond product packaging, as well as Cortizone-10 and Selsun Blue packaging.
Interested consumers can sign up for the programme on TerraCycle’s non-aerosol page.
Packaging that can be shipped for recycling includes plastic tubes, cartons, tubs, sticks, dark plastic bottles, pumps and caps.
The collected packaging and aerosol container waste will be melted into hard plastic and remoulded to make recycled products, including park benches and picnic tables.
TerraCycle CEO and founder Tom Szaky said: “Skincare is a daily routine we all share. We each have our personal preferences as it relates to the brands and products that we use, but we don’t often consider what happens to the packaging once all the product is gone.
“With the Gold Bond, Cortizone-10 and Selsun Blue recycling programme, along with the Gold Bond aerosol recycling programme, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare has considered the end-of-life options for their packaging and partnered with TerraCycle to ensure that it never sees landfill.”
Participants can earn points for every shipment of waste they send to TerraCycle through the programmes.
These points can either be used for charity gifts or donated to a non-profit, school or charitable organisation of their choice after converting it to cash.
Schools, offices and community organisations can also take part in both programmes.
Hard freezer pop SLIQ Spirited Ice recently launched an initiative to make its packaging recyclable by partnering with TerraCycle.
Consumers can send empty SLIQ Spirited Ice plastic tubes to TerraCycle, who will melt them into hard plastic and use them to make recycled products.
Taco Bell Becomes First in Industry to Recycle Hot Sauce Packets Through New Collaboration
Taco Bell is collaborating with international recycling leader TerraCycle to give its sauce packets a second life that doesn't involve a landfill.
According to Taco Bell, fans know that the restaurant chain has a mild obsession with its hot sauce packets, with 8.2 billion sauce packets used in the U.S. each year.
Taco Bell is the first quick service restaurant brand to partner with TerraCycle to tackle recycling flexible film packets.
The companies will announce details of a national U.S. recycling pilot program later this year, Taco Bell said.
According to Taco Bell, customer participation will be easy and will involve free shipping.
TerraCycle is known for collecting traditionally non-recyclable materials, cleaning them, then melting and remolding them into hard plastic that can be used to make new recycled products.
"In the food industry today, there is no widely available solution for recycling the flexible film packets that are so commonly used for condiments," Liz Matthews, Taco Bell's Global Chief Food Innovation Officer, said. "So, we're thrilled to leverage the expertise of TerraCycle to recycle our iconic sauce packet packaging in a way that's as bold and innovative as our menu."
The pilot launch of the program slated to take place later this year, and its results will determine how to move forward, including potential program expansion.
"Now more than ever, consumers don't want to sacrifice the planet no matter how delicious the meal," TerraCycle CEO and Founder, Tom Szaky, said. "Together, Taco Bell and TerraCycle will push the quick service industry by finally finding a way to recycle this type of product. This effort takes us one step closer to keeping packets out of landfills and our mission of 'Eliminating the Idea of Waste.'
Here’s What To Know About Recycling Your Running Shoes
Learn when it’s better to rehome your running shoes and when it’s best to let them take on a new life.
It probably won’t surprise you, a runner, a definite wearer of shoes, to learn that the shoe industry is massive (producing 24.2 billion pairs a year, massive). Also unsurprising is that with its size comes a monster amount of waste as consumers continue to buy and ditch pair after pair.
The life cycle (from material processing, manufacturing, logistics, and eventual waste) is estimated to create 30 pounds of carbon emissions for each pair of running shoes.
RELATED: Running Shoes are Part of an Environmental Crisis. Is Change Coming?
Running brands aren’t oblivious to the problem and seem to grasp that runners are caring more and more about the environment, but aren’t willing to compromise on the quality of their footwear. In fact, that’s where a lot of the dissonance comes into play. To truly reduce the carbon footprint of the sneaker industry, runners need to one day rely on fewer, yet more durable shoes.
But no shoe brand wants us to buy fewer shoes. Which means, it’s up to them to find another way. And this April, just in time for Earth Day, many brands are launching new (or beefing up old) footwear recycling and donating initiatives.
On’s Cyclon shoe is sold on a subscription basis, where consumers return and recycle the shoe and receive a new pair every five months or so. Photo: Courtesy On Running
![on-running-cyclon](https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Jif_hot7ZYpO0hWckzCoWNp4BtVtTSNwaVLssOsssg41-dMYI1Y4WJn_MqPpWFj7wceRqrihBo8bYKKk5sIcLEg7JzQMLuGxGlJlcld5e2GGiSqOqNQHr0BF0PHJuaSnFmRNL-PTRQ8IBhC7prET7BIn0w=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.womensrunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/1_side_v008-DIRTY-720x405.jpg?width=720)
Here Are 6 Brands That Will Recycle Your Kicks (And Socks)
Currently, 85 percent of textiles are not recycled, with the average person throwing away 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles annually. In general, recycling shoes is a complex process and depending on the materials in the shoe it might not be possible. “Footwear is difficult to recycle because most shoes are made using multiple, mixed materials which are often stitched or glued together,” says Shaye DiPasquale a publicist for the recycler TerraCycle. “There is not a lot of physical recycling of footwear that goes on,” says Eric Stubin, president of Trans-Americas Textile Recycling. The majority of ‘recycled’ shoes and clothes are shipped places to be reused. Stubin’s company processes about 10 million pounds of post-consumer textile waste from clothing, shoes, and accessories every year. Take polyurethane foam, a material researchers from Northwestern University only recently figured out how to upcycle. “Polyurethane foam waste has historically been landfilled and burned or down-cycled for use in carpeting,” said William Dichtel, who co-led the research. “Our latest work effectively removes air from polyurethane foams and remolds them into any shape. This could pave the way for industry to begin recycling polyurethane foam waste for many relevant applications.” Polyurethane, which is sometimes used in the midsole of shoes does not melt even in extreme heat. Previously, it could only be shredded or compressed in ways that make the material not durable enough for other uses. In general, when clothing is recycled it tends to go to one of these four different end destinations:- Reused and repurposed as secondhand clothing (45%)
- Recycled and converted into items like reclaimed wiping rags for industrial and residential use (30%)
- Recycled into post-consumer fiber for home insulation, carpet padding, and raw material for the automotive industry (20%)
- Landfills (5%)
4 Other Ways to Donate or Recycle Your Shoes
Donating your shoes so someone else can get use out of them is probably the best thing you can do with that old pair. Stubin’s biggest piece of advice when donating your shoes: Don’t judge your shoes too harshly. “A good pair of shoes, even if a runner deems them no longer useful, can likely find a second life,” he says. Even if the charity you donate to can’t re-sell the shoes to a consumer, they can still sell it to a recycler. “So if a Goodwill sells clothing to Trans-Americas, we pay them for that material. There’s a market price for that material,” says Stubin. Programs like One World Running and Soles4Souls (a popular choice among running stores) collect and distribute shoes and other clothing to people who need them. To date the Soles4Souls program has found second use for over 56 million pairs of shoes. Find a donation center near you here. Soles4Souls partners with a lot of other high profile donation programs. The North Face’s Clothes the Loop program, for example, will send your shoes to that recycling leader. [Editor’s Note: You can also join our Soles4Souls shoe drive! Get all the details here and help us put your old sneakers to good use.] Also announced this month, Nike will soon start accepting lightly worn, good condition shoes into its refurbished program for resale in 15 authorized stores. You can also check with your local running store to see if they offer any sort of similar takeback program. Extending the life of a garment by one year can reduce its carbon footprint by 25 percent, according to the Thredup fashion footprint calculator. “So footwear that lives on and finds a second life for two to three years, conceivably reduces the carbon,” says Stubin. Recycling vs. trashing shoes is only a small fraction of the problem. Most of the carbon emissions related to running shoes happens in the manufacturing process. At the end of the day, the best thing that can be done is to buy less and make the products we do own last longer. But, as with every environmentally charged movement, we have to start somewhere and demand forward progress and innovation, while doing our part as individuals.Taco Bell will start reusing hot sauce packets
New York (CNN Business)Taco Bell's plastic sauce packets have a short life. After all, what else are you supposed to do with them after they're squeezed to death?
That's soon changing: The fast food chain is partnering with recycling company TerraCycle to give its packets a "spicier second life that doesn't involve a landfill," Taco Bell said in a press release.
Taco Bell said that more than 8 billion sauce packets are used every year in the United States, a massive number that's potentially environmentally damaging. About 710 million metric tons of plastic will pollute the environment by 2040 if action isn't taken, according to a recent study published in "Science."
Specific details of how the program will work weren't released. However, Taco Bell did reveal that the recycling pilot program will launch later this year and that participation will be simple and involve free shipping. Its ultimate goal is for the discarded sauce packets have an "exciting future as something totally new."
Taco Bell's sauce packets will soon get a second life.
Taco Bell said it's the first fast food brand to use TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company that helps big businesses become greener. It has worked with Procter & Gamble (PG), Unilever (UL) and Nestlé to help manufacture reusable packaging in place of single-use packages that end up in landfills.
In this instance, it's collecting non-recyclable materials, melting them down and remolding them into a hard plastic that can be recycled again after they're used.
"In the food industry today, there is no widely available solution for recycling the flexible film packets that are so commonly used for condiments," Liz Matthews, Taco Bell's global chief food innovation officer, said in the release.
Taco Bell is hoping that by 2024, packaging used by its customers will be fully "recyclable, compostable, or reusable" across all of its 7,000 global locations. It's using this pilot program to shape its future recycling efforts.
Last year, Taco Bell claimed it had ditched its popular Mexican Pizza because of its packaging, which amounted the use of more than 7 million pounds of paperboard per year.
Taco Bell Is Helping Customers Recycle Its Hot Sauce Packets
The popular chain teamed up with TerraCycle in an effort to reduce waste.
Taco Bell has emerged as an unlikely player in the climate change crusade. The fast-food chain announced Monday that it has partnered with TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based business that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle materials, in an effort to move beyond its single-use hot sauce packets.
While the condiment packets aren’t traditionally recyclable, TerraCycle intends to give them a second life by creating “flexible film packets” that can be recycled instead of getting sent directly to a landfill. A pilot program with the recyclable packets is slated to launch later this year.
According to a press release, though this change might seem small, it has the potential to make a big impact on the environment. Believe it or not, Taco Bell goes through 8.2 billion sauce packets in the U.S. alone each year, so transforming these packets into something that can finally be recycled is a pretty big deal because it helps the chain generate far less waste.
“In the food industry today, there is no widely available solution for recycling the flexible film packets that are so commonly used for condiments,” Liz Matthews, Taco Bell’s Global Chief Food Innovation Officer, said in a statement. “So, we’re thrilled to leverage the expertise of TerraCycle to recycle our iconic sauce packet packaging in a way that’s as bold and innovative as our menu.”
Though Taco Bell didn’t explain all the details of how this recycling program might work, the chain promised “easy” customer participation that would include free shipping, hinting that Taco Bell eaters could recycle packets from home that they accumulate via drive-thru and take-out orders.
As for TerraCycle’s role? The company plans to clean the used sauce packets and then melt them down so they can be remolded into hard plastic that can be used to make “new recycled products.”
“Now more than ever, consumers don’t want to sacrifice the planet no matter how delicious the meal,” TerraCycle CEO and founder Tom Szaky explained. “Together, Taco Bell and TerraCycle will push the quick service industry by finally finding a way to recycle this type of product. This effort takes us one step closer to keeping packets out of landfills and our mission of ‘Eliminating the Idea of Waste.’”
Additionally, the ability to recycle sauce packets is very important in achieving Taco Bell’s goal of “making all consumer-facing packaging recyclable, compostable, or reusable by 2025” in its eateries around the world. The results of this pilot recycling program are expected to help Taco Bell determine the best, most environmentally friendly answers moving forward, and if the pilot program goes well, it may lead to an expansion.
Coffee Roaster F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc Celebrates Earth Day by Making More Packaging Recyclable Through TerraCycle
As part of its commitment to a greener coffee footprint, F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc., makers of Don Francisco's Coffee and Café La Llave espresso, has expanded its recycling program with international recycling company TerraCycle to include coffee bags. Last year, the company partnered with TerraCycle as part of a zero-waste-to-landfill initiative aimed at providing consumers a free and easy way to recycle Don Francisco's and Café La Llave coffee pods and espresso capsules. To date, that program has kept over 500,000 coffee pods and capsules out of landfills, and more than $10,000 has been raised for charities.
"At F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. we embrace our responsibility for environmental stewardship so that we can continue to provide high quality products to consumers today and tomorrow," says Lisette Gaviña Lopez, executive marketing director at F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. "Our company's Direct Impact Initiative is built on the belief that promoting sustainability practices in our business decisions has a direct impact on the lives our coffee touches. But our business and community initiatives aren't enough on their own; the consumer is a critical part of this process, and our partnership with TerraCycle empowers them to participate in these efforts."
Through the Coffee Bag and Pod Recycling Program, consumers can recycle packaging from two F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc. brands — Don Francisco's Coffee and Café La Llave espresso, which include:
- Don Francisco's Single Serve Coffee Pods
- Don Francisco's Espresso Capsules
- Don Francisco's Whole Bean and Ground coffee Bags
- Café La Llave Espresso Style Single Serve Coffee Pods
- Café La Llave Espresso Capsules
How can beauty fix its giant waste problem?
TerraCycle
Include Canada (English)
P&G
Kiehl’s
l’Occitane
Tesco
Loop
REN Clean Skincare
Pantene
Nordstrom
Oneka Elements
Meow Meow Tweet
When you look into how recycling management works, it’s a little like finding out Santa Claus doesn’t exist. The illusion shatters and along with it your belief in everything you once thought good and pure in the world.
In a way, the road to landfills is paved with good intentions. We Canadians, for example, are notorious for “wish-cycling,” throwing items in the blue bin in the hopes that someone, somewhere will be inspired to recycle them. It doesn’t work like that. Instead, the non-accepted items — chip bags, pizza boxes, toothpaste tubes — only increase the likelihood of actual recyclables getting rejected because the lot is deemed contaminated.
To be fair, though, nearly everything is recyclable in theory — even cigarette butts and dirty diapers. But in terms of what actually gets recycled, it all comes down to economics.
“Recyclers want things they can recycle at a profit,” says Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a company that aims to recycle materials that usually aren’t. The things that generate profit tend to be large objects made from a single material. And if that’s plastic, it’s usually clear PET (polyethylene terephthalate or type 1 plastic) or white HDPE (high-density polyethylene or type 2). In other words, it’s everything most beauty packaging is not.
Take a look at your medicine cabinet. Chances are a lot of your personal care products fit in your palm and will thus likely get missed by sorting machines and thrown in the trash (it’s why samples and minis have been called the beauty industry’s dark secret). They’re probably also made of mixed materials (a plastic, rubber and metal razor; a metal spring in a plastic pump) and, if plastic, neither clear nor white.
That last part is important as coloured plastic has a smaller chance of being recycled because of its lower resale value. (The same goes for glass. If it’s amber or green, Szaky says it probably won’t get recycled.) That’s because you can’t take colour out, only add to it, which makes it less attractive to companies. “Think of kids mixing paint,” he says. “It always ends up brown and you can’t unbrown the brown.”
In 2018, the U.S. alone produced 7.9 billion units of plastic for beauty and personal care products, according to Euromonitor International. If we transpose that to a Canadian scale — considering Canadians have similar purchasing habits — “we can estimate that Canada produces 909 million plastic packaging units in a year,” says Laura Yates, plastic campaigner for Greenpeace. Out of that, about 23 per cent is diverted for recycling by consumers, but then a third of that is lost in the sorting and recycling process. Bottom line: In Canada, roughly 773 million plastic beauty or personal care containers end up in landfills every year.
So does that mean brands are lying when they emboss a three-arrow triangle on the bottom of, say, a dark travel-sized plastic bottle? No, not technically. That bottle really is recyclable. The issue is similar to consumers’ wish-cycling tendencies: We’re betting our salvation on a system that’s out to make money, not fix the world’s waste problem.
When Ericka Rodriguez first started her makeup line, Axiology, in Bend, Oregon, she chose to house her lipsticks in aluminum tubes. “We thought, ‘This is great because aluminum can be recycled over and over again,’” she says. But the part of the tube that held the bullet was made of plastic, which meant that in cities that didn’t accept mixed-material items (guidelines vary a lot from place to place), the whole tube was being discarded. “We felt like we were being dishonest because we were like, ‘It’s recyclable,’ and then some people would be like, ‘It’s not, though, because there’s also plastic.’” It’s not that those aluminum tubes can’t be recycled, it’s that separating the components isn’t considered “worth it.”
It gets worse. For a while now, biodegradable plastics have been touted as the solution. You’ve probably used compostable cutlery from that place you got a grain bowl from once and thought, “Wow, this is the future” and went on crunching your quinoa with a clear conscience. The problem is: Composters don’t want compostable packaging.
A year ago, Tesco, the biggest retailer in the U.K., banned compostable packaging from its shelves. It did that after it learned composters weren’t actually composting these biodegradable plastics, they were burning them. “Everyone was shocked and asked, “Why? Isn’t it really compostable?”’ says Szaky. “They said, “It is, but it costs us more to process it and deal with it so why would we bother doing it? We’re not morally obligated to do it, we’re not legally obligated. We’re a for-profit business.”
Before you go chucking your game of Monopoly in the trash (recycling bin? Who the hell knows anymore?), know that capitalism isn’t the only variable at play. Australia, as part of its first-ever National Plastics Plan, announced last month that it would be banning bioplastics as research has shown that, environmentally, it’s not much better than the conventional kind. “Biodegradable plastics promise a plastic that breaks down into natural components when it’s no longer needed for its original purpose,” explains Jackie Gilbert Bauer, head of product development for hair care brand Hairstory. “The idea that plastic literally disappears once in the ocean or littered on land or in landfills is nice, but it’s not actually possible. Nothing disappears completely.”
That’s why Greenpeace does not currently recommend switching to other types of disposable packaging like bioplastics, paper or even 100 per cent recyclable packaging. “Although these often feel like an environmentally better choice than plastic, they are false solutions that risk aggravating current environmental crises, don’t question current disposable culture, and divert attention from the real solutions that should favour reuse,” says Yates.
Even TerraCycle, a company built on recycling, acknowledges recycling isn’t the solution. “You really can’t recycle your way out of the place we’re in today,” says Annika Greve, director, business development for North America at Loop, a new TerraCycle initiative launched in Ontario earlier this year. Don’t get her wrong, recycling is “necessary and critical,” she says. For example, TerraCycle and Nordstrom just partnered on BeautyCycle, a program aiming to recycle 100 tons of beauty packaging by 2025 (you can bring any beauty empty to a Nordstrom store to have it recycled). But still, she says, recycling is “a Band-Aid on the much larger issue.”
That’s where Loop comes in. It sort of works like an old-school milkman, collecting reusable bottles, cleaning them up and then refilling them. Loop assists companies in transitioning to durable, refillable containers and teams up with retailers such as Loblaws in Canada, so that consumers can buy participating products and drop off empties in a convenient location. Examples of beauty partners in Canada include indie brands like Oneka and Meow Meow Tweet, as well as REN, the first premium beauty brand to sign up.
Arnaud Meysselle, REN’s CEO, doesn’t sugar-coat it: Eliminating waste is hard. “There are a lot of hurdles to overcome,” he says of the brand’s pledge to become waste-free by end of year. “There’s a financial impact, which we swallowed — additional costs are not added to the end product — because we are the sinner, so why would we ask people to pay for our sins?”
Unfortunately, not every brand is in a position to absorb the costs linked to greener packaging. “It’s really hard for indie brands, the smaller brands, because a lot of these things come with a 10 or 50 thousand minimum order,” says Sheri L. Koetting, founder of MSLK, an agency that guides beauty brands at all stages of development. “So, it’s much easier for the big companies to make these moves. They have the volume. They could do whatever they want.”
Ericka Rodriguez ran into this exact problem when she was sourcing refillable lip crayon tubes. “The quotes we were getting to make these were astronomical,” she says. “The way it works is there’s only so many beauty manufacturers out there. They’re mostly in China and they all already work for the big beauty brands. Since these big beauty brands haven’t really invested in, for example, a refillable crayon tube, we’re having to do it and it can be out of reach.”
Luckily, the shift is starting. Last year, P&G brands Pantene, Head & Shoulders and Herbal Essences announced they’d be launching refillable shampoos and conditioners. In January, Dove debuted a refillable deodorant. Unfortunately, these products aren’t available in Canada yet. You can, however, shop refills from L’Occitane, Tata Harper, Hairstory and Kiehl’s, to name just a few.
“By using 1-litre refill pouches, customers use on average 80 per cent less plastic compared to the same amount of formula across four 250-ml bottles,” says Leonardo Chavez, global brand president for Kiehl’s. “Less plastic,” as in most pouches are still made of plastic, which Koetting says can be viewed as “not that eco-friendly.” “But the amount of plastic that goes into that pouch is so much more minimal and doesn’t take a lot of energy to make,” she says. Because it’s lighter and can ship flat, its transport also generates fewer carbon emissions.
We have a tendency to vilify materials, says Szaky, which has certainly been the case with plastic in recent years. “Plastics can do amazing things that nothing else can do. Our computers are made from plastic, our eyeglasses are made from plastic. It’s also how the materials are used that determines whether they’re benevolent or not.”
Perhaps the most benevolent material is no material at all. British brand Lush has been a leader in that space with its packageless hair care and skin care bars. Rodriguez also decided to take that route with her multi-purpose balms — she did away with the tubes and instead wrapped the bullets in recycled paper — when she couldn’t find a manufacturer that could provide a packaging solution she was comfortable with.
As consumers, supporting brands that offer these kinds of package-free or refill products — or letting the ones that don’t know that we want better options — can make a world of difference. “The number 1 thing that will make industry change is purchasing habits — that speaks volumes,” Greve says. But the most effective purchasing habit of all? Buying way less. “The only answer is lowering consumption,” Szaky says matter of factly. And this is where the illusion shatters even further: “No matter how vegan or fair-trade that thing that you bought is, if you didn’t buy it, that land that had to farm it could have been a forest.” Like Santa, Szaky confirms, “there’s no such thing as good consumption.”