Bye Bye Beauty: Eco-Friendly ways to Dispose of Old Makeup

A Mint study last year revealed that the average woman drops a cool $15,000 total on beauty products in her lifetime. That’s a LOT of makeup!

Product packaging makes up almost 45% of trash found in landfills.

Instead of tossing them into the trash, consider some eco-friendly & responsible ways to safely get rid of your old makeup, and in some cases, score some FREE beauty products!

NAIL POLISH:

Since 7 out of 10 women own 10 or more nail polish bottles, according to The Beauty Company’s “Pink” Report,  we’re pretty sure that you have a few half-empty bottles lying around the house that you’re waiting to throw away.

• Recycling Center: Find a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility near you. Visit earth911.com, click on Recycling Search, and input “nail polish” and your zip code.

• Safely Discard: Let the polish dry out by loosening the caps and leaving them outside, away from flames (or the sun), for 48 hours, then throw them away. According to Doug Schoon of School Scientific, this process allows the solvents in the polish to break down and evaporate, so that they won’t seep into the groundwater surrounding a landfill.

LIPSTICKS:

Most lipstick brands contain petrochemicals and lead acetates, which contaminates landfills and groundwater. Even lipstick plastic tubes pose an environmental risk.

• Return & Receive:

1. M.A.C: MAC’s “Back to MAC” recycling program, where customers who return six M.A.C primary packaging containers to either a M.A.C counter or online, can score a FREE M.A.C lipstick of your choice as a thank you.
2. LIP-INK International: Offers their own recycle program where users who send in any 4 full-sized LIP-INK vials can choose any one LIP-INK Liquid Lip color for FREE.

SKINCARE & BODYCARE PRODUCTS:

• Recycling Programs:

1. Aveda: Bring any Aveda packaging and/or products into any Aveda store and they will recycle it for free, in collaboration with g2 revolution, a leading recycling innovations company.
2. Origins: Bring any cosmetic brand empty container into any Origins retail store or department store Origins counter, and they will recycle it for you for free. All returned packaging is sent back to a central location where products will be recycled or used for energy recovery.

• Return & Receive: Score some beauty finds when you recycle products from these brands:

1. Kiehl’s: Kiehl’s has a handy stamp card program to ensure that customers receive their recycling rewards. Get one stamp for every empty full-size Kiehl’s product you bring back to their store—and with 10 stamps,  you’ll get to choose any travel-sized (2.5 oz) Kiehl’s product for FREE!.
2. LUSH: Bring back 5 empty, clean black LUSH pots to any LUSH store and you’ll get a FREE Fresh Face Mask. 

Tips on When to Discard your Makeup