TerraCycle: the #1 beauty recycler
Wondering what to do with old beauty products and packaging? While they typically shouldn’t be donated if they’ve been opened, used, or expired, you also don’t have to dispose of them. You can recycle them with TerraCycle!
For over 20 years, we’ve been at the forefront of recycling the “unrecyclable”—trash, like used beauty products, that you can’t recycle through your curbside recycling service.
Our first-of-their-kind solutions are unique because they’re available worldwide, offer different ways to participate (recycle from home or drop off at select retailers), cover the contents of your entire bathroom (from toothpaste tubes to mascara), and come with our recycling guarantee.
Recycle beauty empties →
Recycling beauty waste around the globe
TerraCycle solutions for recycling cosmetics empties and other beauty products are available around the globe.
You can choose how to recycle from several free and paid options:
- Recycle your old beauty products through one of our free recycling programs (sponsored by major brands).
- Drop off items at a participating retailer or TerraCycle drop-off point for free.
- Recycle from your doorstep with TerraCycle Zero Waste Bags, available for purchase in the UK and select parts of the US.
- Purchase a Zero Waste Box™ or Pouch to #RecycleEverything. Choose the Beauty Products and Packaging - Zero Waste Box to clear out your stash of old beauty products or an All-In-One - Zero Waste Box to easily recycle all your hard-to-recycle trash.
We also help businesses recycle in bulk, including one-time recycling options for large volumes of expired, off-spec, or pre-consumer products.
How TerraCycle recycles the unrecyclable
We can recycle complex waste streams that aren’t accepted by municipal recycling services because we create specialized solutions for collecting and recycling hard-to-recycle trash. Plus, because of our innovative processes, there’s no need to wash or clean out any products before sending them to us. (Be sure you use or remove as much product as possible.)
TerraCycle guarantees to recycle all the accepted waste sent to us through our free and paid recycling programs. We strictly control the movement of materials through each part of the recycling process. Bureau Veritas—a world leader in testing, inspection, and certification services—annually audits our collection and recycling supply chains, as do many of our partners.
Through a life cycle analysis (LCA) of our beauty waste recycling process, TerraCycle’s solutions were found to be 74% better for the planet than landfills and 67% better than waste-to-energy. The LCA evaluated environmental impacts across eight categories, including global warming potential (carbon emissions) and water toxicity.
98% of the waste collected through TerraCycle recycling programs is recycled. Read our beauty recycling report here.
