
Every year, over 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the cosmetics industry. That’s according to Zero Waste Week, the annual campaign that aims to increase awareness around sustainable living.
Experts estimate that by 2050, the amount of plastic in the ocean will weigh more than the amount of fish. I’m not suggesting that you ditch the beauty routine whatsoever – or even ditch your favourite brands – but there are changes that we can make. They may be small to us, but will have a colossal impact on our environment.
This is the most obvious. Not only are makeup wipes BAD FOR OUR SKIN, abrasive and leave your precious face skin still covered in makeup, but they reportedly take up to 100 years to disintegrate in landfill. Reusable makeup pads are extremely affordable on Amazon – and won’t take long to pay for themselves. You just pop them in the washing machine when you’re done.
Again, nice and easy. Costs you literally nothing – and, in fact, it can actually save you a few pennies. MAC have, for years now, been running Back to MAC, whereby you return 6 empty products and receive a free lipstick of your choice in exchange. They always were the frontrunners in the industry.
For your other beauty items, Garnier has teamed up with Terracycle to create a free recycling programme. You can drop off old makeup packaging at a local collection point – and if there isn’t one nearby, they can help you set one up. By recycling, you’ll also earn points that can be donated to the charity of your choice.
This one may be a bit of an investment. But by choosing brands that use materials that are more easily recyclable than plastic – glass is the obvious choice here – you’ll feel good for helping our world, and boujie AF while doing it.
Cult skincare brands like Tata Harper and Herbivore already use glass containers for their items. And luxurious organic French newcomer Cosmydor has a strict ‘no packaging’ policy; replacing plastic with glass and aluminium, and keeping cardboard use to a minimum.
DISCLAIMER: We always aim to credit the original source of every image we include in our content. If you think a credit may be incorrect, please get in touch at marketing@cohorted.co.uk.
We’ve got a little bit of everything, from top-tips and industry trends to sustainability.
Stay in the know with all things beauty and subscribe now!
We’ll keep you up to date on hot topics and industry news. You’ll be kept up to date on a need to know basis on all things culture, you won’t want to leave…
Subscribe now!