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US department store chain Nordstrom debuts BeautyCycle recycling program

image.png Nordstrom is the first major U.S. retailer to offer a recycling program for all brands of hard-to-recycle beauty packaging in partnership with global recycling leader TerraCycle. Image courtesy of Nordstrom
By LUXURY DAILY NEWS SERVICE
    BeautyCycle, the first beauty take-back and recycling programming accepting all brands of beauty packaging at a major retailer, debuted at U.S. department store chain Nordstrom.

Nordstrom Launches Beauty Packaging Recycling Initiative

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Nordstrom has launched BEAUTYCYCLE, a recycling program that allows customers to bring their empty beauty product packaging to any of the retailer’s full-line stores or Nordstrom Local service hubs in the continental U.S.
Through the initiative, Nordstrom aims to take back 100 tons of hard-to-recycle beauty packaging by 2025. Each year, more than 120 billion units of plastic packaging are produced by the beauty industry, according to Zero Waste Week, but according to the Environmental Protection Agency, less than 9% gets recycled. Customers can deposit  their product packaging in BEAUTYCYCLE boxes located in the retailer’s beauty department. Nordstrom will send the contents of these boxes to TerraCycle, where they will be cleaned and separated into metals, glass and plastics. Those materials will then be recycled based on the materials’ composition. “We understand our customers care about sustainability, and we want to help them move toward a zero-waste beauty routine, so they can look great and do good at the same time,” said Gemma Lionello, EVP, General Merchandise Manager, Accessories and Beauty at Nordstrom in a statement. “We’re proud to partner with TerraCycle on a solution to help our customers reduce their beauty packaging waste.” Set a science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;In addition to Nordstrom’s beauty packaging recycling goal, the company has committed to the following environmental goals by 2025:
  • Reduce single-use plastic by 50%;
  • Use sustainably sourced raw materials in 50% of Nordstrom Made products made of polyester, cotton and cellulosic fibers;
  • Extend the life of 250 tons of clothing;
  • Ensure 15% of all product is considered sustainable; and
  • Donate $1 million to support textile recycling innovation.

It Just Got Easier to Recycle Beauty Products From Every Brand

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Creating a circular beauty industry is proving incredibly difficult. The cosmetics and personal care categories face an obstacle course on their quest for sustainability, with hoops to jump through that include toxic ingredients, hazardous waste from common items like nail polish and perfume, plus so, so much plastic. The United Nations estimates that we produce 300 million tons of plastic trash every year (nearly the weight of the entire human population), and beauty packaging is largely to blame thanks to pumps, mirrored compacts, and caps that can’t be processed by curbside recycling programs. Up to this point, much of the innovation in low-impact environmental practices has been led by adaptable indie brands that set the standard for Big Beauty with clever mushroom-based Styrofoam alternatives and compostable materials. Today, Nordstrom’s TerraCycle partnership takes a significant step toward a more circular future with BeautyCycle, a product take-back and recycling initiative accepting a high-low mix of used-up beauty staples that matches your medicine cabinet—rather than the store’s inventory. “Nordstrom is the first major retailer to offer a beauty packaging recycling program for all brands,” says Gemma Lionello, the company’s executive vice president of accessories and beauty. “We committed to take back 100 tons of beauty packaging to ensure it’s recycled by 2025,” she shares of setting Nordstrom’s corporate social responsibility goals for the next five years, which include reducing single-use plastic by 50% and ensuring that 15% of all products are considered sustainable. To make their 200,000-pound promise happen, BeautyCycle will be available in 94 locations, where it will accept beauty packaging purchased from any retailer and made by any brand. It’s a goal that’s quite possible, based on the example that clean beauty retailer Credo set when it offered its take-back program for all beauty products, regardless of where they’re purchased. As of April 2020, Credo announced that after three years of partnering with TerraCycle, 6,300 customers brought “empties” into their stores, resulting in the proper recycling of more than 15 tons of products. To understand the scale of Nordstrom’s BeautyCycle initiative: For every Credo boutique (currently 11 nationwide), there are more than eight Nordstrom locations accepting products, promising to create an even more widespread movement—and conversation—among American beauty enthusiasts. a group of people in a kitchen: A Nordstrom BeautyCycle station© Photo: Courtesy of Nordstrom A Nordstrom BeautyCycle stationThe faster the concept catches on, the better. “The global cosmetics industry produces 120 billion units of packaging every year, and much of this waste is not collected by curbside programs,” says Sue Kauffman, TerraCycle’s North American public relations manager. “Many of TerraCycle’s recycling partnerships are mail-in programs that invite consumers to send in product or packaging waste that is specific to the company that produced it or whom we’ve partnered with,” Kauffman notes. “The recycling partnerships TerraCycle has with Credo and BeautyCycle are a bit different since they allow consumers to drop off their waste at in-store collection points.” The brand-agnostic aspect of this is essential in creating the largest impact because to create a system that consumers adopt, convenience is key. “We encourage customers to designate an area or container in your bathroom to keep your empties until you’re ready to bring them to Nordstrom to be recycled,” says Lionello. The nearest drop-off can be located on its digital map feature, and a stroll to the beauty counter is all it takes to give packaging that would have likely been sent to a landfill a second life. Ideally, educating consumers about the impossibility of incorporating certain items into a circular beauty economy will encourage them to seek alternatives or pare down their overall use. Instead of a pressurized can of shaving cream, one might opt for The Art of Shaving’s Lavender Shaving Soap, for example. Similarly, making it crystal clear that an empty Burt’s Bees lip balm, Chanel eyeliner pencil nub, BareMinerals mascara tube, and Davines conditioner tub can all be bundled and handed off to a Nordstrom beauty rep in a single eco-friendly step is news that we can all use. “I’m excited to connect with our customers in a new and meaningful way, especially because this is such an important subject,” says Lionello. “I hope BeautyCycle makes it easier for everyone to recycle their beauty packaging so that we can leave this Earth better than we found it.”
 

Nordstrom Launches BEAUTYCYCLE Nationwide

First major retailer to offer a recycling program for all brands of hard-to-recycle beauty packaging, in partnership with global recycling leader, TerraCycle SEATTLE, Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BEAUTYCYCLE, the first beauty take-back and recycling program accepting all brands of beauty packaging at a major retailer, launches today at Nordstrom. Each year, more than 120 billion units of plastic packaging are produced by the beauty industry, but less than nine percent gets recycled. Customers can now bring in their empty beauty product packaging to be recycled at any of Nordstrom's full-line stores or Nordstrom Local service hubs in the continental United States. Through this program, Nordstrom aims to take back 100 tons of hard-to-recycle beauty packaging by 2025 to ensure it's recycled. Many municipal recycling centers do not accept beauty materials and packaging, as they often contain a mix of materials that are not locally recyclable. "We understand our customers care about sustainability, and we want to help them move toward a zero-waste beauty routine so they can look great and do good at the same time," said Gemma Lionello, executive vice president, general merchandise manager, accessories and beauty, at Nordstrom. "We're proud to partner with TerraCycle on a solution to help our customers reduce their beauty packaging waste." How does it work?
  • Starting October 1, customers can bring their empty beauty products to any Nordstrom or Nordstrom Local to be recycled. BEAUTYCYCLE boxes will be available in the beauty department.
  • Nordstrom will send the content of these boxes to TerraCycle where they are cleaned and separated into metals, glass and plastics.
  • Those materials are then recycled based on the material composition. For example, plastics are recycled into a wide range of new products including park benches and picnic tables, while metals are reused as base materials for stamped product applications like nuts, bolts, washers and rings.
What items can be recycled? Customers can bring empty cosmetic, haircare or skincare packaging regardless of brand or purchase location. This includes:
  • Shampoo and conditioner bottles and caps
  • Hair gel tubes and caps
  • Hair spray bottles and triggers
  • Hair paste plastic jars and caps
  • Lip balm tubes
  • Face soap dispensers and tubes
  • Lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers, and jars
  • Shaving foam tubes (no cans)
  • Lip gloss tubes
  • Mascara tubes
  • Eye liner pencils and cases
  • Eye shadow and tubes
  • Concealer tubes and sticks
For a complete list of items that can and cannot be accepted, please visit our BEAUTYCYCLE media kit. Nordstrom leads with the fundamental belief that it has a responsibility to leave the world better than the company found it. Customers increasingly feel the same and look to the fashion retailer to be a responsible company that plays an active role in protecting the environment. In addition to Nordstrom's goal to take back 100 tons of beauty packaging, the company has committed to the following environmental goals by 2025:
  • Set a science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • Reduce single-use plastic by 50%
  • Use sustainably sourced raw materials in 50% of Nordstrom Made products made of polyester, cotton and cellulosic fibers
  • Extend the life of 250 tons of clothing
  • Ensure 15% of all product is considered sustainable
  • Donate $1M to support textile recycling innovation

Refresh Your Beauty Routine with BEAUTYCYCLE

Recycling is important, but it can be complicated and confusing trying to understand what qualifies. Plastic delivery pouches? Often not. Jars of peanut butter? You have to wash (and likely scrub) them first. Beauty products? Now you can take them to Nordstrom. As of today, we're the first and only major retailer to offer a beauty take back and recycling program accepting all brands of beauty packaging. Each year, more than 120 billion units of plastic packaging are produced by the beauty industry, but less than nine percent gets recycled. That's because many municipal recycling centers do not accept beauty materials and packaging, as they often contain a mix of materials that are not locally recyclable. We hope to change that and aim to take back 100 tons of hard-to-recycle beauty packaging by 2025 to ensure it's recycled. What can you do? Bring your empty beauty products to any Nordstrom or Nordstrom Local to be recycled. BEAUTYCYCLE boxes will be available in the beauty department. What can you bring? Empty cosmetics, haircare or skincare packaging regardless of brand or purchase location can be dropped off at our locations. This includes:
  • Shampoo and conditioner bottles and caps
  • Hair gel tubes and caps
  • Hair spray bottles and triggers
  • Hair paste plastic jars and caps
  • Lip balm tubes
  • Face soap dispensers and tubes
  • Lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers, and jars
  • Shaving foam tubes (no cans)
  • Lip gloss tubes
  • Mascara tubes
  • Eye liner pencils and cases
  • Eye shadow and tubes
  • Concealer tubes and sticks
  • Click here for a full list
What will we do?
We will send the content of these BEAUTYCYCLE boxes to our partner, TerraCycle, where they are cleaned and separated into metals, glass and plastics. Those materials are then recycled based on the material composition. For example, plastics are recycled into a wide range of new products including park benches and picnic tables, while metals are reused as base materials for stamped product applications like nuts, bolts, washers and rings.
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Must Read: Black in Fashion Council Partners With Fred Segal, Matthew Williams on the New Givenchy

Nordstrom introduces recycling partnership with TerraCycle This month, Nordstrom will debut a recycling program for beauty packaging developed in partnership with TerraCycle to its beauty department. Through Beautycycle (as it's called), customers will be able to drop off empty beauty packaging from any brand at designated boxes in the beauty departments of Nordstrom and Nordstrom Local stores. The retailer will then send it to TerraCycle to be cleaned, separated by material (metal, glass, plastic) and recycled or repurposed, according to a press release. {Fashionista Inbox}

Nordstrom's New BEAUTYCYCLE Program Is A Game Changer For Recycling Empties

The complex, mixed-material nature of lip gloss tubes, lotion dispensers, and spray bottles makes the prospect of becoming a low-waste beauty consumer feel like a pipe dream. Even with the increasing number of brands taking oaths of sustainability, the shelves of beauty retailers remain stocked with single-use or difficult-to-recycle packaging, growing the Great Pacific garbage patch more with each mascara wand made. However, Nordstrom's new BEAUTYCYCLE take-back program is a momentous step towards circularity.
"We understand our customers care about sustainability, and we want to help them move toward a zero-waste beauty routine so they can look great and do good at the same time," said Gemma Lionello, Nordstrom's executive vice president and general merchandise manager of accessories and beauty, in a press release announcing the new BEAUTYCYCLE program Thursday. With the take-back campaign — a partnership with the global waste management company TerraCycle — the retail giant aims to save 100 tons of packaging from landfills by 2025.  
Nordstrom's new BEAUTYCYCLE program aims to save 100 tons of packaging from landfills by 2025
Courtesy of Nordstrom
"When setting our 2025 corporate social responsibility goals around environmental sustainability, we focused on three key impact areas," Lionello tells The Zoe Report. "Climate change, environmental impact of our products and services, and circularity." Earlier this year, Nordstrom announced plans to contribute at least $250,000 in corporate grants to help slow and prevent climate change, to help customers "extend the life of 250 tons of clothing through donation," and contribute $1 million to industry innovation for textile recycling. Additionally, it plans to reduce its use of single-use plastics by half and use sustainably sourced raw materials for 50 percent of Nordstrom Made products by the 2025 target. While take-back programs are a norm for green-thinking brands like bareMinerals, EOS, and The Body Shop, Nordstrom's BEAUTYCYCLE program is the first brand-agnostic beauty recycling program to be implemented by a major retailer. "We hope that by supporting customers to find more sustainable and responsible products, we're also supporting the brands that are developing innovative products like this, which will ultimately drive positive change across our industry," Lionello says. To participate, shoppers simply bring their empty beauty products — can be shampoo containers, hair paste jars, spray bottles, lip balm tubes, soap dispensers, mascara tubes, eyeliner pencils... almost anything from any brand, including the caps — to a Nordstrom location and turn them into the beauty department in a BEAUTYCYCLE box (available in the store). Nordstrom then sends the empties to TerraCycle, where the materials are sorted and recycled. Find out more about the BEAUTYCYCLE program and Nordstrom's sustainability goals at Nordstrom.com.

Nordstrom Wants to End the Waste Problem in the Beauty Industry

The retailer has partnered with TerraCycle to create BeautyCycle, an in-store depository that will ensure your empties actually get recycled.
Nordstrom Terracycle box inside a department store
 Have you ever noticed how many words us beauty people have for using up our products? There's "hit pan," which is code for cleaning out a shade in a makeup palette. There's also "empties," a cutesy way of saying you've used your products until the last drop. But the important part, at least where Mother Earth is concerned, is what comes next – and it may not be what you think.
As we reported early this year, throwing empty products in your blue recycling bin with the best of intentions unfortunately isn't enough to ensure that your used packaging will have a second life. Only nine percent of all plastic waste ever produced has actually recycled. This is due in part to the complex nature of product packaging, which makes it difficult to sort for users and impossible to sort for waste management machines. Lotion pumps, for example, are typically made with a metal spring and plastic tubes. Even if you rinse it out and toss it in the bin, the multifaceted materials mean it'll end up in a landfill. Or in the ocean. Or on Trash Mountain. Sue Kauffman, a public relations manager at international recycling organization TerraCycle, sums up the sad truth about all those pretty bottles and tubes: "The more complex or costly the packaging, the harder it is to collect, separate, and recycle."
In an industry that still uses a huge amount of plastic, it's time to find sustainable solutions. To help, Nordstrom, a major beauty retailer, has pledged to gather and recycle 100 tons of beauty packaging by 2025. To make that happen, Nordstrom has partnered with TerraCycle to create BeautyCycle, an in-store depository that will ensure your empties actually get recycled.
Starting October 1, customers can bring their products into any Nordstrom department store (wear your face mask while you're there) and drop into a BeautyCycle bin. Nordstrom then sends the bins onward to TerraCycle, which weighs and sorts the material, then melts them down to usable raw material that will eventually become something new.
Nordstrom Beautycycle box in department store
Regardless of whether you bought the beauty product at Nordstrom, customers can bring their empty makeup, hair-care, or skin-care items to a BeautyCycle box. The list of acceptable products includes shampoo and conditioner bottles, hair gel tubes and caps, hairspray bottles and triggers, hair paste plastic jars and caps, lip balm and gloss tubes, face soap dispensers and tubes, lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers, and jars, mascara tubes, eyeliner pencils, and more. Of course, it's not every day that you use a product up completely, so it's best to save up your goods until its worth the trip to the department store. "I recommend designating an area or container in your bathroom to keep your empties until you’re ready to bring them in to be recycled," says Lionello. According to Kauffman, one of the best ways to be a sustainable ally is to "plan for the end-of-life" of the plastic you use. Start that process here by finding the Nordstrom nearest you.

TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky on why ‘caring’ about recycling isn’t enough

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Tom Szaky will be speaking at our online event, TNW 2020 about the impact COVID-19 has had on waste management and recycling. To find out more about his talk and the other speakers you can see with your (free) ticket, check out our tracks here. Waste is an omnipresent problem — something that simultaneously impacts our environment, global economy, and personal lives. Given that plastic waste alone is projected to be as high as 53 billion pounds a year by 2030, we cannot ignore it. According to TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky, the problem isn’t that we’re ignoring, it the problem is… This story continues at The Next Web