In our daily article, we will introduce 4 packaging recycling initiatives of brands that would encourage the recycling of their packagings.
Let’s start with a well-known company.
Nespresso
Nespresso coffee pods had a wide diffusion thanks to their ease of use. However, to the detriment of their functionalities, pods are a huge environmental problem. They generate a high amount of waste that is difficult to manage at home. For this reason, the company pledged to find a solution to facilitate the recycling process.
In 2016, Nespresso Canada launched the first recycling program in Montreal. Until this day, through this initiative, consumers get a green bag every time they purchase coffee pods. The bags should be filled up with the exhausted pods and simply thrown away with household waste. They will be then divided from the rest of the junk and separately treated. The waste coffee grounds will be extracted and turned into compost, whilst the aluminum capsules will be recycled.
The program was a great success and, for this reason, Nespresso Canada decided to spread it to other cities. From June 2018, the company teamed up with Canada Post for capsule recycling. They started to distribute red bags that, once filled up, might be sent back to Nespresso’s recycling facility through the mail, at no extra cost.
RePack
The second packaging recycling initiative is RePack, a rental service for reusable delivery packagings designed by the Finnish company Plan B From Outer Space Oy.
The service is really simple. The company offers the possibility to rent its packages to e-commerce shops and retailers, that might use RePack to deliver their products. Consumers that buy from the adhering sellers might choose the shipping packaging solution they prefer between standard boxes and RePack.
If they choose RePack, paying between 0-5 euros extra, they will receive their products packed into the reusable packaging. This package should be then sent back via mail (no stamps needed). After sending it back, the customers will receive a ten euro coupon from the online store where they bought the products. Each RePack will be checked, cleaned, redistributed and reused up to 20 times. A great initiative to reduce the amount of waste generated from packaging.
What is the company value proposition? Trashless life!
TerraCycle and L’ Occitane en Provence
Starting a few months ago, TerraCycle and L’ Occitane en Provence partnered together to facilitate the recycling process of their cosmetic packagings for consumers.
Customers only have to drop off the empty packages at one of the participating L’Occitane stores to immediately receive a 10% discount coupon. A clever incentive in exchange for their services. The collected packagings are sorted and separated by material composition. The separated items are then cleaned, shredded, and made into new recycled products.
TerraCycle is an innovative company handling hard-to-recycle materials. It offers a great packaging recycling service, which is perfect for the cosmetic industry. Indeed, last year, TerraCycle already teamed up both with Garnier and L’Oreal Australia to recycle their products through convenient packaging recycling initiatives.
LUSH
LUSH always cared for the environment. Most of its products are sold naked, without packaging. When it is not possible, items are packaged into recyclable containers. To encourage the recycling, the brand launched a special promotion. With every 5 black pots returned, the customers will get a free facial mask back.
“Your Lush black pot could have more lives than a cat”, they say, because every returned pot will be washed, dried, melted down and reformulated into new pots.
Recycling cosmetic packagings has always been a thorny issue given the various types of containers and compositions. Indeed, they are often hard to recycle. For this reason, in addition to the above-mentioned brands, other cosmetics companies set up specific packaging recycling initiatives to change consumers habits.
Conclusions
We talked about programs that promote the use of packagings within a circular economy. A restorative and regenerative system in which materials constantly flow around a closed loop system, rather than being used once and then discarded. A useful solution to reduce the environmental impact of products.
These kind of actions are becoming strongly necessary to tackle the increasing problem of environmental pollution caused by packagings. Therefore, we hope to come across in packaging recycling initiatives more frequently, hoping that they will be able to encourage people and companies to protect the planet.
