Recycling beauty products is a challenge, no matter how diligent you try and be. Due to the often intricate nature of bottles (metal springs in pumps, for example), the complications with colored- or darkened-glass, the plethora of plastic, formulas (like nail polish) that simply can't be recycled after use, embedded mirrors, and so on, even if you try your best, what you toss in the recycling bin likely still will end up in the landfill. It's, by all accounts, not a great situation for green beauty lovers. In fact, it's downright disappointing. The issue is there aren't great alternatives: Credo has a recycling program, and many individual brands have started doing refill initiatives in store or online. But this is only a small dent in the bigger picture. There are simply so many beauty products on the market and the fact is most of them can't be properly recycled.