Garnier and TerraCycle team up to recycle your used beauty products

Finally, incentive not to let those empty shampoo bottles pile up in the shower! Leading cosmetic brand Garnier is teaming up with TerraCycle, an up-and-coming, innovate private company working honorably to “outsmart waste” day in and day out by transforming objects people would normally throw away into entirely new consumer products. Thanks to the new Garnier/TerraCycle “Beauty Brigade” partnership, that useless graveyard of plastic bottles and old mascara tubes in your bathroom can be transformed into useful and fabulous commodities, from tote bags to flower pots to bike racks.

Many of the items collected are upcycled (these products remain in basically their original condition and composition—for example, margarine tubs are used as flower pots), or if they can’t be upcycled, they are then shredded and compressed into plastic pellets, which can be used to make almost any kind of plastic product. “By reusing the waste as raw material for new products, the need for virgin raw materials is greatly reduced, giving the products a much smaller carbon footprint,” says Greta Fox, assistant vice president, Garnier public relations.

The Garnier/TerraCycle partnership is a sweet opportunity for beauty—and planet earth—fanatics everywhere. Any finished hair care, skincare or cosmetic packaging can be sent to TerraCycle for free. Simply sign up at terracycle.net, download a prepaid UPS label, call UPS for a free pickup and voila, that lotion tube is on its way to its new and resurrected life as a funky lunch box! And for each product you send, you will receive two TerraCycle “points,” or two cents, to put toward a school or charity of your choosing!

Though the Beauty Brigade program is ongoing, if you happen to run out of empty bottles to send to TerraCycle (you Good Samaritan, you!) and are on a humanitarian roll, Fox says there are further ways to help fulfill the Garnier/TerraCycle mission. “Buy beauty products that use recycled materials and biodegradable formulas. Garnier is committed to this mission… All of the Garnier shampoo and conditioner bottles are now made out of PET (the most widely recycled plastic) and contain 30% recycled plastic.” There are endless opportunities to help our planet, and you can start by joining this powerful beauty battalion Garnier and TerraCycle have created!
—Madeline Morris