As a beauty editor, I love the industry that I work in. There is so much innovation in the world of beauty, and with that comes many exciting new product launches. However, I’d be remiss to not mention the industry is not kindest to the environment and our efforts towards sustainability. Several new products and brands are launching every single day, and with overconsumption comes a colossal amount of waste. In an office discussion just this week, I shared how I often get overwhelmed with the number of new launches that land on the beauty desk each week—I simply don’t have enough skin or hair to test everything. And while colleagues, family and friends are very happy to test on my behalf, I’m becoming more and more selective around what I test and recommend, and how the said beauty product affects our planet, including whether it is easily recyclable. A 2018 report by Zero Waste Week found that the beauty industry produces a shocking 142 billion pieces of packaging each year. And as you’ll already have noticed, it’s not that easy to recycle your empty beauty products. According to The British Beauty Council, only 14% of packaging actually makes it to a recycling plant, and then only 9% is recycled—the rest heads directly to landfill.
