With the international spread of Covid-19, the global use of face masks or personal protective equipment (PPE) seems set to continue to increase. But keeping ourselves safe should not be at the cost of the planet. Organizations are developing new solutions to reduce the negative impact on the environment.
Waste management company
TerraCycle has
Zero Waste Boxes to collect and recycle PPE, face masks and disposable gloves, explained Julia Chevalier, PR Manager at TerraCycle Europe.
P&G Beauty strikes a major blow to plastic waste with its new refill system including a reusable aluminium shampoo bottle and recyclable¹ pouch that uses 60% less plastic²
Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, works with every major cosmetic company in the world, helping them to be more sustainable. He says this is the first time he has seen a large company with mainstream brands create a refillable bottle at scale, out of an alloy. “From a supply chain point of view, this is a big undertaking. Hopefully, it will inspire other organisations to do the same and create a movement where we start buying more of our shampoos in reusable systems versus single use systems.”
The consumer goods giant unveiled images of the new format for the first time today (22 October). Customers will be encouraged to purchase a reusable aluminium bottle, which they can refill from new pouches. The pouches consist of a flexible plastic packet with a rigid plastic neck.
Several of P&G’s brands are already listed on Loop –
TerraCycle’s multi-brand refill platform which is currently operating in the US, France and the UK. Loop sees customers pay a deposit fee on each piece of packaging that is refunded to them when TerraCycle’s courier partners collect the empty containers.
Zero waste products might be the future of
clean beauty but they have yet to reach the mainstream. The lack of accessibility and convenience when purchasing zero waste items means that it is significantly easier to just buy non-recyclable products.
When switching to sustainable beauty I found that I had many products which I needed to use up before searching for better alternatives. These were mostly half used makeup items in non-recyclable packaging, often with different parts and materials such as a mascara wand or a foundation pump, which makes it impossible to recycle them in local council bins.
TerraCycle is a recycling scheme for waste that cannot easily be recycled. Founded by Tom Szaky in 2001, who was then a student, the concept is simple: free recycling programmes are funded by worldwide brands, manufacturers and retailers in order to allow us to collect and recycle our hard-to-recycle waste. All you have to do is pick the programmes you want to use, collect waste in your home, school, office or organisation, download a free shipping label and finally, send your waste in to be recycled. Points are earned and can be exchanged for rewards for your school or a non-profit.
These unprecedented COVID-19 times have underscored that single use materials are still a highly reliable and affordable solution for personal protection. Although this new reality has highlighted the public necessity for these items, it has also brought into stark contrast our vulnerabilities to pollution. Between the end of February and mid-April this year, more than a billion items of personal protective equipment were given out in the UK alone. This spike in consumption is forcing us to rethink our attitude to recycling and find a sustainable solution for this kind of waste, which would otherwise end up in landfill or often simply be littered on the streets. As the leading experts in traditionally “non-recyclable” waste, TerraCycle provides a unique recycling solution for all types of single-use PPE, which aren’t recyclable through conventional recycling facilities, giving them a new life in a variety of forms.
Cosmetics giant L'Oreal is introducing make-up recycling bins across 1,000 UK stores in an environmental push.
Its Maybelline brand and recycling firm TerraCycle will install the recycling points in branches of Tesco, Boots, Sainsbury's and Superdrug.
L'Oreal's UK boss said the firm wants to "lead the way" in creating beauty recycling habits.
Maybelline and TerraCycle make-up recycling bins
Maybelline's make-up recycling bins are being rolled out to 1,000 locations across the country, including Boots, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Superdrug.
When you finish ANY branded make-up product (except make-up brushes and nail varnishes), you can drop it into one of the recycling bins and it will be recycled for free by waste management company TerraCycle.
Alles im grünen Bereich? Eben noch nicht ganz. Aber neben Einwegbechern, Plastikbesteck und Strohhalmen stehen nun vermehrt Beauty-Produkte im Fokus. Allerdings nicht allein auf dem Inhalt. Denn Konsumenten und Markengründer sind sich einig, dass auch das Packaging von nun an umweltfreundlicher, nachhaltiger und ressourcenschonender sein muss. Die gute Nachricht: Nicht nur Nischenlabels, auch die Big-Player sind in diesen Prozess involviert. In die sechs nachfolgenden Kosmetik- und Pflegeprodukte können wir also mit gutem Gewissen investieren …
Waste management company TerraCycle has partnered with O2 to introduce a recycling solution for personal protective equipment (PPE).
TerraCycle, which specialises in hard-to-recycle waste, will be distributing ‘Zero Waste Boxes’ to O2 stores, to ensure that PPE is recycled safely.
Two new river plastic capture devices have been installed in Thailand by the TerraCycle Thai Foundation in a bid to clean up Thailand’s waterways.
