FANTASTIC, LESS PLASTIC
Six brilliant hacks to cut down on your beauty packaging
HOW much plastic does it take to look fantastic?
While almost 90 per cent of Sun readers worry about pollution, more than a fifth say they do not know enough about how to be more green with their beauty products and kit.
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Just the packaging in the cosmetics industry adds up to 120billion units a year, most of it ending up in landfill, the sea or illegal waste sites in poorer countries.
We suggest ways to cut the amount of plastic packaging you use . . .
Get your refill
THE Government is looking at banning some bathroom staples such as cotton buds to cut down on single-use plastic waste.
But meanwhile why not choose brands promoting refillable products, to give your beauty besties an extra lease of life rather than tossing away packaging after just one use?
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Many names, such as Clarins, Hourglass, Dior, Verbena and Tropic, now offer refillable items and in October Olay will feature refillable and plastic-free packaging.
Try Clarins everlasting cushion foundation refill SPF50, £21.10 (13ml), from .
Happy returns
SOMETIMES we need a little extra incentive to encourage us to recycle – and shopping at brands with recycle schemes is one way to find this.
The Body Shop just started asking customers to return empties in store for TerraCycle to collect, recycle and transform for use making park benches and playgrounds.
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You will be entitled to a reward worth £5 when you return five empties.
Cosmetics giant MAC runs a Back To MAC scheme where they take six empty containers and recycle them in exchange for a free lipstick. You will feel guilt-free and glam.
Buy biodegradable
PLASTIC can take nearly 1,000 years to decompose and 90 per cent of sanitary products are made from it, while 1.5billion such items are flushed down toilets each year.
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Choose biodegradable materials so they decompose. Opt for Simple biodegradable cleansing face wipes, £1.59 (was £3.65), . They compost in 42 days, decomposing quicker than a banana skin.
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Also try FLO organic applicator tampons, £3.69, , or subscribe to Albany Mae organic tampons, £4.50 a month, . Both are 100-per-cent-organic cotton.
Sort it out
MORE than half of us fail to recycle all our bathroom waste, research by Garnier found, while TerraCycle data shows 4.5million of us find the task inconvenient.
It is easier than we think – just pop a recycling bin or bag in your bathroom.
But do rinse the insides of empty bottles and pots before throwing them in the recycling, so the plastic is not contaminated.
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Look out, too, for the recycling information labels on packaging, advising which parts of an item are widely recycled and when you need to check the local council’s policy.
If you see the Mobius Loop – the three arrows moving around in a circle – this means the product can be recycled.
But it does not guarantee the local recycling centre will accept it.
Buy recycled
NOT all plastic is recycled, depending on contamination and council policy. So best is to buy items made from recycled materials – as they can be recycled again.
A quarter of Boots’ Botanics range now uses post-consumer recycled plastic – while Aveda and Neal’s Yard are heading toward using 100 per cent of this type of plastic.
Botanics Peaceful Night Pillow Mist comes in a recycled bottleTry Briogeo Farewell Frizz Rosarco milk leave-in conditioning spray (51ml), £8.50, , packed in recycled packaging.
Or buy Botanics Peaceful Night Pillow Mist, £5.99, Boots. The bottle is made entirely from recycled materials.
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Get naked
SOME brands have caught on to the fact we are more and more conscious about what we consume – and are reducing or abolishing their products’ packaging.
Lush offers packaging-free shampoo bars (£7.50) and has launched Naked Shops, selling a range of packaging-free cosmetics such as shower gel and cleansers.
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Holland & Barrett has brought out a zero-waste vegan beauty-bar range. The Ethique products include shampoo, conditioner, body wash, cleansers and scrubs. Prices start at £5.49 and each bar is equivalent to three bottles of product.
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