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How 4 Beauty Brands Get Their Goods Around the World (and Help the Planet Along the Way)

TerraCycle Include USA Herbal Essences Beach Bottle
glossier herbal essences' and olio e osso on blue water background This isn't just about plastic jars or cellophane or the Pacific Ocean. By 2050, shipping could be responsible for 10 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. For a better idea of the magnitude, we plotted the journeys of four products — from concept to an imaginary doorstep in Oklahoma City — to plot out a carbon map behind some products. More and more, companies are choosing to move their goods by rail rather than a plane. Others are using materials that would otherwise litter our oceans. We'll let the map do the talking. And then let's keep the conversation going. Here's how four of your favorite beauty products get from the factory to being into your hands — sustainably.

Herbal Essences' Bio: Renew Line

 
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Courtesy of brand
  Pacific Ocean For Herbal Essences' Bio: Renew line, the journey begins in the Pacific, where ocean-waste plastic is culled.
New Jersey The plastic takes the slow boat to TerraCycle's facility, where it's processed into a raw material that can be used to create bottles. Indiana A packaging vendor sandwiches the Pacific plastic between two layers of virgin plastic. While not ideal, the bottle still uses 25 percent less virgin plastic than a traditional shampoo bottle and complies with most municipal recycling programs. The bottles then make their way, by truck or rail, to another Iowa (or West Virginia) factory to be filled. Then they're off to retailers across the country...
Oklahoma City ...where a shopper places it in their cart. $6 each (Shop Now)

Glossier Balm Dotcom

 
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Tennessee Having sprung forth from a mood board in New York City, the tubes and caps for Glossier Balm Dotcom are molded and printed in Tennessee.   New Jersey Next, they're trucked back east to be filled with the product, which was also made in the Garden State.   Ohio The finished, filled tubes then make their way by truck to a warehouse a few hundred miles west.   Oklahoma City An order to be delivered to OKC would likely travel from Ohio to Oklahoma by truck, says Glossier.   $12 (Shop Now)   Minnesota The glue-stick-like plastic tubes that house Olio e Osso's tinted balms travel by rail from a factory in Minnesota to the brand’s Oregon studio.   Portland The formula is mixed in small batches at the studio, then poured into the tubes. The outer stickers — sourced just outside of Portland — are then added.   Oklahoma City USPS picks up the orders directly from the studio and gets them to their final destination by truck.   $28 (Shop Now)   China East Coast While the packaging components that make up an Urban Decay Naked2 Eyeshadow Palette are being produced in a factory in Asia, the makeup itself is being made on the East Coast. "We like to make the actual [product] that goes on your face in factories where we can be on the ground floor and have a lot of control," says cofounder Wende Zomnir.   Dominican Republic The empty palettes and the shadows make their way, by boat, to the Dominican Republic, where assembly takes place.   Flordia Shadows plus package get on another boat, headed back to the U.S. "We might do an emergency shipment here or there by plane," says Zomnir. "But you can get the same result by planning ahead and shipping it on a boat."   New Jersey The palettes are then trucked to the brand's warehouse.   Oklahoma City One more trip — likely by truck — and the shimmering shadows are in a customer's hands.   $29 (Shop Now)