Unless you’d like to see this planet’s wildlife and environment continue to suffer as a result of improperly disposed cosmetics products, then it’s time to start recycling our empty beauty products properly. One way to do that is to check if the plastic container of a personal care product has a number 1 or 2 printed inside its recycling symbol, then it’s safe to go into your curbside recycling. However, if it’s not, we recommend searching for a retailer with a recycling program to ensure your empties are being disposed of without hurting the environment.
Here are 12 places to responsibly recycle your empty beauty products in Toronto.
L’Occitane en Provence
At 14 of its locations in Downtown Toronto and the GTA, iconic French brand L’Occitane en Provence partnered up with Terracycle so that customers can bring in used products to be recycled. You can even bring back empty products from other brands and receive 10 per cent off a new item from L’Occitane.
Pure + Simple
Every one of this downtown Toronto spa’s storefronts participate in a bottle return program, which allows customers to bring back their Pure + Simple and Holistic Vanity empties and gives them a dollar off their next purchase – per bottle!
TerraCycle Canada
One of the easiest ways to properly recycle your favourite eos, Weleda, and Burt’s Bees empties is by sending them into TerraCycle itself. Products from these companies can now be mailed to TerraCycle free of charge as long as you sign up online for a postage-paid envelope. You’ll earn points for every product you turn in which can be redeemed as a charitable donation to a school or nonprofit of your choice.
Deciem
Deciem has also paired up with Terracycle to offer the brand’s loyal following a recycling program at two specific locations in the GTA: the Toronto Exchange Tower and Square One in Mississauga. And don’t worry about having more than just Deciem products to recycle – the company accepts all beauty products and packaging.
The Body Shop
A brand with a long history of eco-consciousness, The Body Shop keeps TerraCycle bins at 10 of it’s Toronto stores so that customers can recycle their beauty and body products properly. Once Love Your Body Club members return 5 of their clean empties, they receive a $10 reward. Bonus!
MAC Cosmetics
Though you can only recycle MAC products through the brands Back to MAC program, you can receive a free lipstick upon returning 6 primary containers (think tubes, bottles, or eyeshadow pots) that your makeup came in. Keep in mind that they can be used, empty, or full, but they have to fall within the company’s required guidelines for return.
Kiehl’s
What could be better than receiving complimentary merchandise for recycling products you scraped the last bits of? At Kiehl’s, each time you return a full-size product for recycling, you’ll receive a stamp on a Reward Card. When you’ve earned 10 stamps, you can turn in your card and pick up a free Kiehl’s Travel Collection item.
Lush
You may have heard about Lush’s recycling program before — the brand has reportedly collected more than 3 million empty bottles since its beginning. When you bring back five empty, clean Lush pots, you’ll receive a free fresh face mask in exchange. And you can feel better about buying Lush products in the first place, since the brands containers are made from recycled plastics and former little black pots themselves. On the plus side, the company’s bath bombs, fresh face masks, lip balm, massage bars, solid scrubs, and perfumes can also be composted.
Aveda
Aveda partnered with recycling company g2 Revolution so that clients can bring in all packaging and accessories from the brand to its stores. They’re then recycled, reused or burned for energy recovery.
Origins
Origins actually created the first recycling program for cosmetic packaging in 2009, and its products are made from mostly post-consumer recycled materials produced by renewable resources. The company accepts products from any beauty brand at its brick and mortar locations as well.
Innisfree
With its first stand-alone store now open in Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Innisfree, a budget-friendly K-beauty brand specializing in all-natural skincare and makeup, has also teamed up with TerraCycle. Innisfree collects any of your empties in-store (and soon, online) in exchange for loyalty points. In addition to the Empty Bottle Recycling Campaign the company’s had in effect since 2003, nearly 13 million bottles have been recycled.
The Detox Market
You can now recycle your clean beauty products at The Detox Market, too! For every full-size empty product you bring in, the retailer will reward you with 10 Detox Points. Drop offs are limited to 10 products per customer.
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