Once you’ve worn your lipstick down to a sorry nub, cut the bottom off your liquid foundation to get to the leftovers that are stuck to the sides, used a Q-tip to dig out the very last drop of your fancy night cream, artfully arranged them in proper flat lay form, photographed them, adjusted the brightness and contrast, posted it to Instagram, and hashtagged “#empties,” all you’re left with is plastic. And plastic, regardless of what it once was in a past life, needs to be recycled.
Unfortunately, nearly half of Americans do not recycle their beauty and personal care products, according to a national survey. That means that a significant amount of landfill is made up of empty tubs of La Mer bottles, Diptyque candle jars, and Naked palettes that’ve been used down to the pan. That sucks — but it doesn’t have to stay that way.
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In an effort to change this statistic and make a positive impact on the world at large, Garnier is teaming up with DoSomething.org, America’s largest organization for young people and social change, to launch Rinse, Recycle, Repeat, a national campaign and college campus competition with a goal of educating the nation’s youth about the importance of recycling those empties.
But don’t worry: You have full license to wait until after you’ve ‘grammed them. Nobody is trying to take that away from you — in fact, social participation is requested. That’s exactly why YouTuber Remi Cruz will serve as the face of the campaign, starring in a public service announcement about recycling her own beauty products. “Rinse, Recycle, Repeat combines my three favorite things: beauty products, creativity, and most importantly, doing my part to help the environment,” Cruz said.
If you, too, enjoy those things, it’s easy to get involved. You can sign up online by clicking here and enter to win a $5,000 scholarship — if you’re in college, that is — or get a free shipping label to send your own empties off to TerraCycle for responsible recycling. The goal is to divert a total of 10 million beauty products from landfills by the end of 2017. Save your empties, save the world.
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