Tips for Recycling Cosmetics Containers

You just managed to get the last drop of concealer out of the bottle, and now that it’s empty, you’re likely wondering what to do with it. The easy thing would be to toss it in the trash, but you feel a little guilty doing so. You may be wondering, is any part of this container recyclable? 

As someone who’s been using makeup since I was probably twelve, I’ve purchased and used more cosmetic products than I’d care to admit. If you’re anything like me, you might have a bin of old cosmetics sitting in a corner, simply because you think you could probably recycle them, but you’re just not sure how to. 

In this article, I’ll be providing some tips I found when considering how to recycle your cosmetics containers. This is a very contextual topic, as recycling guidelines vary between towns.

This leads to my first tip, which is to check your local recycling guidelines to see which Resin Identification Codes (RICs – the number inside the chasing arrows symbol) are recycled in your area. Based on this, you can determine which cosmetics containers you can recycle if they have the respective RIC labeled on them. Glass, cardboard and metal containers, along with most #1 and #2 RICs are accepted by curbside recycling programs. 

However, it can be hard to know for sure if your cosmetics containers are actually recyclable. This may be due to your local recycling program not including certain RICs, or you can’t find the RIC on your cosmetic container. This brings me to the next best option: mail-in recycling programs. 

One of the biggest product-specific recycling programs is TerraCycle, which runs free mail-in recycling programs so that consumers can properly recycle their products. TerraCycle’s programs run through brand sponsorships, so you can only send in materials from one brand at a time. For example, the Garnier Free Recycling Program through TerraCycle only accepts Garnier products. TerraCycle has partnerships with hundreds of brands, so it’s likely that some of the cosmetics brands you use will have a program through TerraCycle. 

Through TerraCycle’s mail-in recycling program, typically you would reuse a cardboard box, place the brand-specific materials you’d like to recycle in it, and put a prepaid packaging label on the box to send it in the mail. TerraCycle programs funded by brands are free for customers to participate in, so there’s no additional cost! For more information on other brand-specific recycling programs, Stockton Recycles has some great resources.

Finally, if you decide not to recycle your cosmetics containers, you can always find ways to reuse them! Old mascara brushes can be cleaned and used as spoolies for your eyebrows or lashes, or you can even use them as a cleaning tool to get in between small grooves. Any sort of jar or makeup compact can be easily cleaned and used as storage for jewelry, or can even make great travel-size containers for lotion and shampoo. 

So, next time you run out of a cosmetic product, think twice before tossing it! While throwing it away may be the easy option, we need to keep our environmental impact in mind as consumers and do our part in reusing and recycling, even if it may take a little extra work.

• beauty
• how to be sustainable
• recycling