Nordstrom launches beauty recycling program

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Oct 2, 2020

Nordstrom is helping everyone go green with a beauty take-back and recycling program launching Thursday, in partnership with TerraCycle. 

Dubbed 'BeautyCycle', the program allows customers to bring their empty beauty product packaging to be recycled at any of Nordstrom's full-line stores or Nordstrom Local service hubs in the U.S. 

Customers can bring empty cosmetic, haircare or skincare packaging regardless of brand or purchase location, including everything from hair spray bottles to lip balm tubes, and more.

"We understand our customers care about sustainability, and we want to help them move toward a zero-waste beauty routine so they can look great and do good at the same time," said Gemma Lionello, executive vice president, general merchandise manager, accessories and beauty, at Nordstrom.

It is estimated that each year, more than 120 billion units of plastic packaging are produced by the beauty industry, but less than nine percent gets recycled. With the help of waste management company TerraCycle, Nordstrom aims to take back 100 tons of hard-to-recycle beauty packaging by 2025 to ensure it is disposed of sustainably.

Nordstrom will send the recyclable goods to TerraCycle where they are cleaned and separated into metals, glass and plastics. Next, materials are recycled based on the material composition. 

Nordstrom is not the only company turning to TerraCycle to up its recycling game. Earlier this year, Henkel-owned haircare giant Schwarzkopf launched a program, joining beauty giants like Gillette and Garnier USA.