The Body Shop is providing a ‘Return, Recycle, Repeat’ scheme in more than 200 of its UK stores, allowing consumers to bring in cosmetics empties for recycling.
Cosmetic and bathroom product packaging is often considered ‘hard-to-recycle’, meaning kerbside services rarely take it, but the Return, Recycle, Repeat initiative gives people an alternative to sending the items to landfill.
The waste collected as part of Return, Recycle, Repeat is given a second life thanks to The Body Shop’s waste management partners ReWorked, which recycles the items at its facility in Hull, and Metrisk, which rewards recyclers through its Scan2Recycle scheme.
Packaging collected in stores undergoes a quarantine before a washing and shredding process removes any remaining make-up and product. The shredded plastic mix is heated to over 200 degrees Celsius and pressed into 100% recycled plastic boards.
From the plastic boards, the material is then made into objects such as furniture, shelters, bins and shop fittings. Fortnum & Mason (F&M) even has some planters made from such recycled waste on the outside of its flagship London store.
Children’s playground equipment can also be developed from the recycled waste.
Izzie Glazzard, ReWorked marketing manager, said: “Working with The Body Shop allows us to normalise the recycling of cosmetic and bathroom waste that would usually go straight to landfill or incineration.
“We hope, in turn, we can positively affect customer behaviour, encouraging responsible shopping and recycling habits.”
ReWorked, which is part of MyGroup, has forged partnerships with several retailers in recent months. In addition to helping decorate the outside of F&M, it has teamed up with Metrisk to provide a facemask recycling scheme for Wilko, and an in-store beauty packaging collection scheme for Boots.
Read more about The Body Shop on Green Retail World
[Image credit: The Body Shop]
