“It all comes down to economics,” says Sarah Teeter, global project manager of recycling company TerraCycle. “Recyclers can only sustain themselves by recovering and recycling the things that are profitable.” That means that, ultimately, recycling is a business and, as of now, only clear and white plastic sells.

 

REN Clean Skincare recently unveiled its first 100% recycled packaging in partnership with TerraCycle, which introduces sustainable new packaging for its Atlantic Kelp and Magnesium Anti-Fatigue Body Cream. The bottle is made with a combination of 20% reclaimed ocean plastic and 80% recycled plastic bottles. The product itself is made with nourishing shea butter, algae extract, Atlantic kelp extract and magnesium PCA, which are beneficial for restoring moisture balance, enhancing the natural cycle of cell renewal and soothing tired muscles. With the essences of sage, cypress, geranium and rosemary oils, the body cream boasts a scent that's altogether uplifting and energizing. Ultimately, REN is working towards the goal of becoming zero waste by the year 2021.  

Unilever has announced plans to accelerate its sustainable commitments in North America.   The personal care and household conglomerate, which counts beauty brands Dove, TreSemmé, Tigi and St Ives as part of its portfolio, has unveiled a three-part plan to target plastic use in the US. The first stage of the strategy will see the company endeavor to see 50% of its plastic packaging made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) content by the end of 2019. The second step will see ‘How2Recycle' labels that feature clear recycling instructions incorporated into all packaging by 2021. Finally, the company is teaming up with Walmart on an educational program set to launch later this year titled ‘Bring it to the Bin,' which will encourage and inform shoppers about recycling all packaging, including bathroom products. "Today, we are significantly accelerating our plastic packaging commitments in North America and are thrilled to be working alongside other industry leaders like Walmart to push these initiatives forward," said Unilever North America President Amanda Sourry in a statement, calling for wider efforts in reducing plastic waste across the consumer goods industry. "We need collective action to tackle the problem at the source by working with forward-thinking companies like Walmart, advocating for systemic change in government and recycling facilities, working closely with plastics suppliers, and educating consumers. Only together will we answer the urgent call made by the plastics issue we are facing." Unilever has set itself a global target of making all of its packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by the year 2025, as part of the company's ‘Sustainable Living Plan.' The corporation is not the only major beauty player tackling the issue of plastic pollution: the Procter & Gamble-owned hair care brand Herbal Essences joined forces with the waste management giant TerraCycle last month to launch a series of bottles comprising 25% beach plastic, while REN Clean Skincare has pledged to become completely "zero waste" by the year 2021.

Got the urge to purge? Read on to determine which beauty products to keep, how to organize them, and how to safely toss the items you don’t need. (Recycling isn’t just for the kitchen.)

Assess what you’ve got.

Remove all your products from your bathroom, vanity, makeup bag, etc. and lay them out on a large white sheet or towel. “This clean background lets you clearly see and assess what you have, and it’s particularly helpful for seeing the colors and textures of your makeup,” explains makeup artist and beauty expert Jenny Patinkin. Categorize everything: Split up makeup, skin-care, and hair-care items, and then divide each of those piles into subcategories according to type of product. Now get down to business: “If you haven’t even picked up a product in two years, it’s got to go,” says Patinkin. Cast those items aside quickly and without thinking too much; don’t lament over how much money you spent on that pricey serum you never used. (More on what to do with those products in a minute.) RELATED: The Best Anti-Aging Products of All Time, According to Top Dermatologists Next, assess the quality of what’s left. Any change in texture, color, or smell is a telltale sign that a product is past its prime. If the color is separated on your nail polish, even after you shake it, it’s time to get rid of it. Skin-care items often come with expiration dates, so anything that has expired should go. This quality assessment is important not only for hygiene reasons but also for efficacy purposes, especially when it comes to makeup. “Anything that’s cracked, crumbly, dry, or separated isn’t going to apply evenly,” notes Patinkin. Once you’ve gotten rid of the old stuff, purge any multiples. Have six red lipsticks? Ten pink nail polishes? Limit yourself to one of each shade, keeping the one you reach for most often. Patinkin suggests putting the products that have made the cut into a box and storing the box outside your bathroom. Anytime you need something, take it out of the box and leave it in the bathroom. “Do this for three weeks. If there are still products in the box after that, chances are high that you’re never going to use them, so get rid of those too,” she says.

Organize what’s left.

Have six red lipsticks? Ten pink nail polishes? Limit yourself to one of each shade, keeping the one you reach for most often. Now that you’ve streamlined your stash, organize it. Separate skin-care, hair-care, and makeup items, storing each category in its own place. Patinkin recommends using clear, stackable drawers, which let you easily see and access what you need. We like the variety of drawers and dividers from Boxy Girl (from $39; boxygirl.com). Train cases with pull-out trays are a great space-saving storage solution, adds Patinkin. Try the Caboodles Large Train Case ($99; caboodles.com). Skin-care products containing active ingredients—vitamin C and retinol, in particular—are best stored in a cool, dry place, away from sunlight, which can render those ingredients inactive. So consider keeping those items in a dark spot, like a drawer or closet. If you have a lot of makeup, separate products for face, eyes, and lips, and then organize those according to container size and shape to make everything tidy, recommends Patinkin. Now ensure your stash stays organized by committing to a deep clean twice a year. Do so during a change of seasons, when you’ll probably be switching up your skin care and makeup anyway, says Patinkin. One item to purge more frequently, however: mascara. It should be ditched about every 90 days, since dark, moist environments are breeding grounds for bacteria, and every time you use the tube, you’re contaminating it. (Preservatives in the mascara lose efficacy over time.)

Get rid of everything else.

Resist the urge to dump all your castoffs into a garbage bag and call it a day. Donating unwanted items is a great option—though for hygienic reasons it’s essential that they be unused, says Pam Koner, executive director of Family to Family, a nationwide nonprofit that recently helped launch Share Your Beauty, a beauty donation program. The type of product doesn’t matter; if it’s unused, donate it. “While personal-care products, such as soap and shampoo, may be more critical, makeup items like lipstick and mascara are always wanted as well,” says Koner. What about the rest? Much of what’s left over can likely be recycled, though it isn’t quite as easy as tossing stuff into your household recycling bin. Not all plastic is created equal, and not all types of plastic are recyclable. Containers made of PET or HDPE plastic can usually be recycled curbside, notes Gina Herrera, the U.S. director of brand partnerships for TerraCycle, a company that helps recycle hard-to-recycle materials. (The plastic type is usually noted on the bottom of the packaging; look for the recycling symbol and a number from 1 to 7.) You can also recycle certain glass packaging—though, as with plastic, it’s important that it be clean and empty. Recycling rules vary greatly based on location, so check to see what types of materials are accepted by your municipality, advises Herrera. This information can usually be found wherever your local trash and recycling schedule is listed. RELATED: 11 Steps to Better Skin Caps, pumps, nail polish brushes, fragrance spray tops, and lipstick tubes typically can’t be recycled curbside, says Herrera. Before tossing these materials into the garbage can, ask your retailer if you can bring the packaging back. Companies including Kiehl’s, MAC, and Lush offer programs that reward you for returning empties. Another option: TerraCycle has partnered with the beauty brand Garnier to launch a program that accepts personal-care and beauty waste from any brand. Pile your clean beauty discards in a box, create an account on terracycle.com, print out a prepaid shipping label, and drop off the box at any UPS location. Almost everything is accepted except nail polish, perfume, and aerosols, notes Herrera. Drop those items off at a hazardous-waste facility (the search tool on earth911.com can help you find the one nearest to you) and let the pros dispose of them properly.

Other ways to make your beauty routine more sustainable:

To minimize the beauty trash you produce, simple changes go a long way. Perhaps the biggest offenders are face wipes. They’re great for travel, but for daily use, consider swapping wipes for a washable alternative, like the Croon Starter Fibers ($26; justcroon.com) or Face Halo ($22 for 3; facehalo.com). When makeup shopping, opt for refillable compacts for eye shadow, powder, and blush. Kjaer Weis houses its makeup in pretty, refillable metal compacts—even the mascara casing can be reused. When it comes to skin care, go for items in glass packaging, like Tata Harper’s line. (What little plastic the company does use for its tubes is derived from Brazilian sugarcane.) And keep an eye out for Loop, a new waste-free shopping platform that launches in Paris and the New York City area in May, with plans to expand. Loopstore.com will sell products from major beauty companies (like Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and REN Clean Skincare) in glass and stainless-steel containers. When you’ve used them up, send them back to be refilled.

You want to look great while respecting the planet, right? April Long Mar 15, 2019       Beauty products can have some ugly effects on the environment, choking landfills with trash and polluting our waterways. Thankfully, companies large and small are stepping up their sustainability game, prioritizing the responsible sourcing of ingredients, implementing earth-friendly manufacturing processes, and experimenting with inventive recycling programs. But we all have a role to play. Even the tiniest gestures make an impact, right down to the number of styling products we use in our hair. Here, how you can help.  

The issue: squandering our resources.

  The way plant ingredients in your creams and shampoos are farmed affects local communities and ecosystems—and a product’s overall carbon footprint. One of the most egregious examples is palm oil, whose derivatives appear in a whopping 70 percent of cosmetics. Indiscriminate building of palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia has decimated rainforests, and research indicates that deforestation releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Also, most personal care products use water in manufacturing and as a main ingredient—and the availability of clean, drinkable water is expected to nose-dive by 2050, thanks to climate change, pollution, and increased demand.  

What’s being done?

  Mega-companies are making major changes. L’Oréal, which has committed to being deforestation-free by 2020, and Estée Lauder are working closely with the global nonprofit Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to ensure that their cultivation methods and sourcing have minimal negative environmental impact.   So is Unilever—the parent company of Dove, St. Ives, and Pond’s—which released its entire supply chain to the public, promising to source all its palm oil sustainably. That’s a big deal, given that Unilever brands go through more than a million metric tons of the stuff per year. In addition, Unilever and L’Oréal are putting resource efficiency front and center, devising innovative ways to use less water in production and with products themselves (low-water-use shampoo, fast-rinse conditioners).   One of the most exciting developments, though, is brought to us by biotechnology, which companies are using to create environmentally responsible ingredients. The skincare line Biossance makes its squalane, a naturally occurring oil traditionally derived from shark livers or olives, from renewable sugarcane, and the brand Algenist’s key anti-agers, alguronic acid and microalgae oil, come from sustainable algae.  

What can you do?

  At home is start by being mindful of your water use. Turn off the shower while shaving, and skip a shampoo occasionally. If you want to go full-on farm-to-face, choose green beauty standouts like Jurlique, Juice Beauty, Dr. Hauschka, and Tata Harper—they all grow botanicals on their own farms. Otherwise, look for labels such as Ecocert, which guarantees the use of renewable ingredients.           Seed Phytonutrients founder Shane Wolf, who worked to develop the first-ever shower-friendly paper bottles, made from 100 percent recycled material and used for the brand’s shampoo, conditioners, cleansers, and hand wash. More than 60 percent of paper is recycled, while less than 10 percent of plastic is, “Any move away from plastic toward paper is a move in the right direction,” says Wolf. And hidden inside each bottle is a packet of seeds, which can be planted to grow heirloom herbs.    

The issue: emissions and pollution.

  Global fossil fuel–related emissions of carbon dioxide reached an estimated record high of 37.1 billion metric tons in 2018, which is putting us on course for a very hot and smoggy planet. Consumers—that’s us!—are calling for accountability and action, and brands are responding.  

What’s being done?

  The big guys are effecting big change. Several items in Garnier’s SkinActive linehave earned Cradle to Cradle certification, which measures environmental impact over the life of a product, and parent company L’Oréal USA has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality for its plants and distribution centers this year by switching to renewable energy. (Fun fact: The Maybelline Great Lash mascaras sold in America are made with 100 percent renewable electricity.)   And remember those plastic microbeads from face scrubs and cleansers that were turning up in lakes and oceans (and fish bellies) a few years ago? They’ve been banned from rinse-off personal care products in the U.S. Small brands are making a difference, too. Most of Tata Harper’s packaging is made from easily recyclable glass (more than one ton of natural resources, like sand or limestone, is saved for every ton of glass recycled), and the plastic used for its tubes is derived from corn rather than petroleum.  

What can you do?

  Try an eco-audit of your own daily beauty regimen, assessing the number of products you buy and how much waste is produced as a result. The Nature Conservatory’s carbon calculator (nature.org) helps you determine your footprint, then offers tips on what you can do to decrease it. One thing you shouldn’t do: Clean your face with a non-biodegradable wet wipe—and you really shouldn’t flush it down the toilet. Why? Just Google “fatberg.”   Former fragrance exec Marcella Cacci launched the skincare line One Ocean Beauty in 2018 with a simple mission: to help protect the health of the oceans. The brand harnesses “blue biotechnology,” which involves reproducing marine extracts from algae, kelp, and seaweed in the lab rather than harvesting them from the sea. This means there’s no impact on the ocean’s natural bounty. “We never hurt the biodiversity,” says Cacci, who adds that the brand has also donated $250,000 to Oceana, the largest global nonprofit focused solely on ocean conservation.  

The issue: waste.

  A staggering eight million metric tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every year, with countless pieces of bottle caps and straws in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is actually two large masses between Japan and the U.S. West Coast. If current trends continue, it’s predicted that by 2050, plastic will outweigh fish in our oceans, and 12 billion metric tons of it will sit in landfills. The beauty industry, which produces billions of plastic packaging units annually, has a lot to answer for.  

What’s being done?

  Plenty! Unilever and L’Oréal have committed to using 100 percent recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025; Procter & Gamble, the übercompany behind Pantene, Head & Shoulders, and Herbal Essences, has pledged the same by 2030. Beginning this year, haircare brand Kevin Murphy is going all in, sourcing its packaging from reclaimed ocean plastic, a move that will save more than 360 tons of new plastic annually. Since 2011, Garnier has partnered with TerraCycle to tackle previously unrecyclable beauty packaging, diverting approximately 11.2 million empties from landfills. And at the World Economic Forum in January, a consortium of brands, including REN Clean Skincare and the Body Shop, announced participation in Loop, a shopping program that will offer products in durable packaging that can be returned, sanitized, and reused (like old-school milk bottles). It’s set to launch in the New York City area and France this spring.  

What can you do?

  Excuse us for shouting, but...RECYCLE! According to the Environmental Protection Agency, recycling just ten plastic bottles saves enough energy to power a laptop for more than 25 hours. Since products used in the bathroom tend to have a low recycling rate (people typically keep their bins in the kitchen), make it easier for yourself by keeping a ready receptacle next to the shower. Need more incentive? Kiehl’s, Lush, and MAC offer freebies when you bring in empties, and others, including Origins and Tenoverten (with nail salons in New York City, Los Angeles, and Austin), will accept containers from other brands as well. When shopping, gravitate toward items without excess packaging (or none at all—Lush’s new Naked concept stores offer bath products, haircare in bar form, and facial soaps with no packaging whatsoever), or look for a label that specifies 100 percent recycled content.   Since its inception in 2013, Beautycounter has become one of America’s most trusted sources for cleaner skincare and makeup. Founder Gregg Renfrew’s top goal is ingredient safety (the company’s do-not-use list includes approximately 1,500 chemicals), and she views sustainability as intrinsically linked to that mission. “We’re committed to making decisions that are based on scientific research, but given the large data gaps around safety and sustainability, it’s extremely complicated,” Renfrew says.   To help close those gaps, Beautycounter partners with researchers and universities, and has screened more than 1,000 ingredients for their effects on our health and the environment. Meanwhile, Renfrew is advocating for increased federal oversight to help clean up cosmetics: She and her team have met repeatedly with D.C. lawmakers to lobby for legislation like the Personal Care Products Safety Act, which would give the FDA the power to, among other things, regulate potentially harmful ingredients.  

The issue: animal testing.

  This practice may not be directly related to the environment, but should concern anyone who cares about our fellow living creatures. While the U.S. is inching toward a ban (California will prohibit the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals starting next year, and New York and Hawaii have introduced similar legislation), many companies have implemented their own prohibitions on testing. The EU has forbidden it outright, but it’s actually still required for foreign products sold in China. For an international corporation that wants to do business there, this is a problem.  

What’s being done?

  Multinationals and smaller brands alike are pushing for change in China and countries that still permit animal testing; in 2018, the Body Shop and Cruelty Free International (CFI) brought a petition with 8.3 million signatures they’d gathered worldwide to the UN, calling for a global ban.  

What can you do?

  Check labels for a little rabbit; it signifies that CFI’s Leaping Bunny program has certified a product as cruelty-free. If in doubt, check Leaping Bunny’s website or head to PETA to find the rigorously vetted Beauty Without Bunnies list, which ensures that neither brands nor their ingredient suppliers are spritzing hairspray in any animal’s eyes.  

Specialty retailers are also joining the packaging revolution.  REN Clean Skincare is a good example of a retailer that is making environmentally-friendly packaging part of its offering.  The company kicked off the campaign with a splashing Earth Day celebration featuring its new partner, the Surfrider Foundation.  The campaign was aimed at making REN customers aware of the need to conserve water and keep beaches clean and plastic-free.     The company is selling some of its skincare products in bottles made from plastic reclaimed from the ocean.  The bottle is part of REN’s Clean to Planet initiative to become a 100% zero waste company by 2021.  The bottle is made by TerraCycle, a recycling based in New Jersey.  TerraCycle specializes in materials that are hard to recycle.  The company claims to have collected over 300,000 pounds of beach plastic in cooperation with collection partners.   The recycled plastic bottles get quite a bit of attention.  However, REN is doing far more that is less noticeable.  The company is cutting down on paper waste by eliminating card board boxes for some products.  REN is also removing double labels, relying on a new single-layer label to display legal requirements and product instructions.   REN Skincare was acquired by Unilever N.V. (UN:  NYSE) in 2015.   The unit is estimated to contribute $9 million in annual sales.  In the greater scheme of things at Unilever, its shares do not reflect REN and its efforts to clean up and make useful ocean plastic.  Nonetheless, REN’s efforts show that one step has been taken in the right direction to make Unilever a part of the solution and not just a part of the problem of packaging waste.   Neither the author of the Small Cap Strategist web log, Crystal Equity Research nor its affiliates have a beneficial interest in the companies mentioned herein.    

TerraCycle Founder and CEO Tom Szaky shares news on the upcycling company’s work creating a supply chain for ocean plastics and provides a peek at the upcoming launch of its transformational Loop platform.