Buying second hand beauty products from platforms such as Poshmark and Glambot at first seems like a great idea, especially for beauty enthusiasts. My younger sister is obsessed with makeup and has drawers and drawers full of it! So the chance for her to buy luxury beauty goods, second hand would be an opportunity she couldn’t resist!
However, as I am not as into makeup and beauty products as much as my younger sister, I would be wary of buying second hand products. The concerns around hygiene and buying beauty products second hand would be a concern of mine, however as I like to keep things simple when it comes to makeup and skincare – most days I don’t wear any makeup – I don’t need to buy higher end makeup second hand.
Considering the idea of repurposing second hand beauty products, many beauty brands have launched programs to encourage recycling the packaging used for their products. Lush have been running a scheme for years which allows customers to return three used pots to receive a discount off your next purchase or a free face moisturiser. Lush also sells many of their products ‘naked’ which means that they use zero plastic in their packaging! The solid foundation, ‘slap stick,’ is sold in a recycled and recyclable cardboard box and is dipped in a peelable wax! 35% of Lush’s products are totally unpackaged and the rest are packaged using recycled and recyclable materials.
Terracycle, a recycling waste company, has collaborated with brands such as Garnier and Burt’s Bees where plastic waste from their products can be dropped off at different locations all over the UK which are then sent off to be extruded and recycled into new products.
On the high-street, brands such as The Body Shop, L’Occitane, Khiel’s and recently, John Lewis, have recycling programmes where you can return empty plastic packaging to their store in return for perks such as vouchers and discounts. John Lewis launched their scheme in November last year, since then 75,000 products have been saved from going to the landfill. REN clean skincare is another brand with a strong initiative for sustainable packaging as they pledge to be zero-waste by 2020, their bottles are made from recycled ocean plastic.
Over the next decade, WGSN predicts luggage-free traveling to rockets. Refillable beauty samples will be available from local companies who will deliver these items to hotel rooms or rented houses, and picked up afterwards for cleaning and refilling.
Recycling used beauty packaging is a great idea to help towards the climate crisis and divert plastic from landfills. I’ll certainly be using these schemes in the future!
Zoë x
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