This story is part of Glossy’s Earth Week series, which spotlights sustainability efforts and topics across the beauty and fashion industries. You can read some of our other coverage here and here. When it comes to sustainability, retailers are trying to move into the spotlight. In early March, Ulta Beauty announced a partnership and dedicated website with Loop, allowing customers to shop specific brands and products on LoopByUlta.com and send back their empty packages. In 2020, with the launch of its Conscious Beauty program, Ulta Beauty also committed that all packaging sold from all brands will need to be made from 50% post-consumer recycled or bio-sourced materials, or recyclable or refillable by 2025. Ulta Beauty sells over 600 brands, including Chanel, Covergirl and Ouai hair care. Also in 2020, Credo committed that it would eliminate single-use masks and wipes and that its brand partners would be required to use 50% PCR plastic or other sustainable materials by June 2023. “It is our responsibility to ensure that Ulta Beauty is continuously meeting those expectations. And we’re using Conscious Beauty as a way to showcase that and influence our partners,” said Monica Arnaudo, Ulta Beauty chief merchandising officer. “Retailers have a lot of influence in this area. We want to ensure that we’re meeting the customer’s needs, so our influence extends to our brand partners and manufacturers.” Though some retailers like Ulta and Credo are pushing their brand partners to adopt more sustainable solutions and packaging, it is not common across the board. Though retailers have traditionally often had the upper hand in the brand-retailer relationship, retailers are for the most part looking at their own products and operations before proposing changes to third-party brand partners. There are potential reasons for this, ranging from dodging accusations of performative greenwashing to preventing cries of hypocrisy from brands. But it is likely more about the general lack of options available to brands. Despite strides in sustainable packaging, there is no perfect solution and few alternatives that do not materially impact a brand’s packaging design, branding and bottom line. For example, Sephora’s 2019 goals and progress on sustainability predominantly focus on the retailer’s stores, distribution centers and corporate offices. The retailer is part of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and notes that it “encourages” brands to “embrace efficient [packaging] design” but doesn’t make it a requirement. Since late 2019, Sephora has piloted an in-store recycling program in Utah and Colorado. Customers who bring back three containers from any brand receive a 15% discount on Sephora Collection products. A Sephora spokesperson said there had been no changes or expansions to the pilot as of 2021. Additionally, Walgreen Boots Alliance only references its own private label brands and products, including beauty brands No.7 and Soap & Glory in a section dedicated to sustainable packaging. On Monday, Walgreen Boots Alliance repackaged its six beauty brands, including No.7, and Soap & Glory, into a new umbrella called the No.7 Beauty Company to drive digital marketing effectiveness and expansion. CVS’s sustainability strategy around products is mostly focused on its own private-label brands, too, said Joanne Dwyer, CVS vp of CSR and sustainability. This includes discontinuing the sale of single-use plastic straws, all plastic cutleries, and all Styrofoam cups, plates and bowls. CVS will stop shipping these items to stores by June of 2021. It will instead introduce alternative options such as paper straws and bamboo plates but will continue to sell national brands like Solo. The national retailer is undertaking an audit of its CVS-owned brand packaging to understand what is and is not recyclable, as well as what is recyclable but difficult to do. It will complete this audit in June 2021. The plan is to develop a set of recycling standards and guidelines for its brands that are printed on the label; CVS is currently rolling them out in a phased approach and plans to include them in its CSR report in 2022. “We don’t want to make a sustainable choice or a better-for-you choice that is difficult to make. From an access and cost standpoint, we would like to democratize sustainability,” said Dwyer. There are some brand sustainability partnerships that CVS has engaged with since 2020. CVS works with TerraCycle and brands like Gillette and Colgate twice a year to promote a takeback campaign. Customers can sign up online and ship their products directly to TerraCycle. CVS and TerraCycle then turn the waste received into materials used for playgrounds and rock walls; the playgrounds or rock walls are then built in locations where the highest volume of participation occurs. The Detox Market and Follain previously added TerraCycle bottle collection boxes in-store back in 2019. On Thursday, Credo debuted in all of its 10 stores a new in-store recycling program called Pact to collect hard-to-recycle packaging. “When something is difficult to recycle, we want to [experiment to] see if people will send back products if we provide the mechanism for them to do so,” said Dwyer. “It’s important for us to engage our suppliers and our industry peers. Many of the sustainability challenges that have emerged are industry [created]; we need to work as an industry to solve.”

Empty it out

  As a rule of thumb, containers need to be rinsed and free of product before being recycled.   Fragrances and products like nail varnish, polish remover and aftershave are considered hazardous waste and unsafe for recycling.   “Anything that has product left in it should go back to a household hazardous waste depot, where they make sure the materials go in the right place,” says Nadine Kerr, manager of resource recovery for Solid Waste Management Services at the City of Toronto.   “It can cause equipment breakdown and hazards for the people who are working at these facilities.”   In particular, aerosol cans must be completely emptied and depressurized – failure to remove excess product can cause an explosion while the can is being processed. Waste processing varies between municipalities.   In Toronto, the main guide for recycling protocol is the TOwaste app. Elsewhere, check with your local municipality.  

Don’t just hope for the best

  Chucking your empties, even if they’re thoroughly rinsed, into the blue bin simply doesn’t cut it.   “Aspirational recycling” refers to when “consumers aren’t sure if something’s recyclable or if it will get recycled because maybe it has some product in it, but they put it in anyway because they want to give it a chance,” says Michael Waas, global vice president of brand partnerships at TerraCycle.   When not separated, mixed-component packaging – even if made up of entirely recyclable matter – can’t be processed by most municipal recycling streams.   “The line will kick out [contaminated] products, and usually the products surrounding them, because they’re operating very quickly and with a huge volume,” says Waas.   Facilities are ill-equipped to sort through the tiny components (think multi-part pumps and caps) found in cosmetic vessels and their packages.   Coils and spiral bindings, such as the ones found in pump bottles, cannot be recycled by municipal recycling streams and belong in the trash.  

Understand the signs

  The Mobius loop – an international recycling symbol – does not guarantee a product will be recycled through your city’s stream. However, the numbers within the loop indicate the type of plastic used in the product.   “The good news is if you have a container that has a number five or one, that product is all made of a single resin,” says Kerr, and that means those products are easier to recycle.   Look out for number seven plastics – they’re often made up of multiple resins, making them more difficult to recycle.  

Not the answer

  On the surface, biodegradable plastics may seem like a miraculous solution to the waste crisis, but packaging made of polylactic acid (a common biodegradable plastic derived from corn) won’t decompose unless it’s processed at a high-efficiency composting facility.   “Biodegradable packaging doesn’t add a lot of value to the compost, and, as a result, composters don’t really want it,” says Waas.   “The only sustainable solution is designing single use [plastics] out of the equation.”  

Buy Greener

  Use your purchasing power to put the onus on brands to streamline the recycling process.   “Recycling is an economics challenge in that there is a technical recycling solution for absolutely every product and package,” says Waas. “The question is whether it makes economic sense for it to be recycled.”   Most non-recyclable waste is considered as such because the cost to collect it exceeds the price for which the recovered material is sold.   TerraCycle, the global recycling program behind Loop, has collection programs with brands like Caudalie, Weleda, Burt’s Bees and EOS, which are willing to absorb those costs.   Return your brand-specific empties either by mail (free of charge) or in-store, and they will be remoulded into new products. If you aren’t brand-loyal, companies like L’Occitane, The Detox Market andDeciem have also partnered with TerraCycle and accept any product packaging at select locations.  

REFS

Published on ellecanada.com

EMPTY IT OUT

  As a rule of thumb, containers need to be rinsed and free of product before being recycled. Fragrances and products like nail varnish, polish remover and aftershave are considered hazardous waste and unsafe for recycling. “Anything that has product left in it should go back to a household hazardous waste depot, where they make sure the materials go in the right place,” says Nadine Kerr, manager of resource recovery for Solid Waste Management Services at the City of Toronto. “It can cause equipment breakdown and hazards for the people who are working at these facilities.” In particular, aerosol cans must be completely emptied and depressurized – failure to remove excess product can cause an explosion while the can is being processed. Waste processing varies between municipalities. In Toronto, the main guide for recycling protocol is the TOwaste app. Elsewhere, check with your local municipality.  

DON’T JUST HOPE FOR THE BEST

  Chucking your empties, even if they’re thoroughly rinsed, into the blue bin simply doesn’t cut it. “Aspirational recycling” refers to when “consumers aren’t sure if something’s recyclable or if it will get recycled because maybe it has some product in it, but they put it in anyway because they want to give it a chance,” says Michael Waas, global vice president of brand partnerships at TerraCycle. When not separated, mixed-component packaging – even if made up of entirely recyclable matter – can’t be processed by most municipal recycling streams. “The line will kick out [contaminated] products, and usually the products surrounding them, because they’re operating very quickly and with a huge volume,” says Waas. Facilities are ill-equipped to sort through the tiny components (think multi-part pumps and caps) found in cosmetic vessels and their packages. Coils and spiral bindings, such as the ones found in pump bottles, cannot be recycled by municipal recycling streams and belong in the trash.  

UNDERSTAND THE SIGNS

  The Mobius loop – an international recycling symbol – does not guarantee a product will be recycled through your city’s stream. However, the numbers within the loop indicate the type of plastic used in the product. “The good news is if you have a container that has a number five or one, that product is all made of a single resin,” says Kerr, and that means those products are easier to recycle. Look out for number seven plastics – they’re often made up of multiple resins, making them more difficult to recycle.  

NOT THE ANSWER

  On the surface, biodegradable plastics may seem like a miraculous solution to the waste crisis, but packaging made of polylactic acid (a common biodegradable plastic derived from corn) won’t decompose unless it’s processed at a high-efficiency composting facility. “Biodegradable packaging doesn’t add a lot of value to the compost, and, as a result, composters don’t really want it,” says Waas. “The only sustainable solution is designing single use [plastics] out of the equation.”  

BUY GREENER

  Use your purchasing power to put the onus on brands to streamline the recycling process. “Recycling is an economics challenge in that there is a technical recycling solution for absolutely every product and package,” says Waas. “The question is whether it makes economic sense for it to be recycled.” Most non-recyclable waste is considered as such because the cost to collect it exceeds the price for which the recovered material is sold. TerraCycle, the global recycling program behind Loop, has collection programs with brands like Caudalie, Weleda, Burt’s Bees and EOS, which are willing to absorb those costs. Return your brand-specific empties either by mail (free of charge) or in-store, and they will be remoulded into new products. If you aren’t brand-loyal, companies like L’Occitane, The Detox Market and Deciem have also partnered with TerraCycle and accept any product packaging at select locations.   This article originally appeared in the April 2020 issue of ELLE Canada.