What do you do with all of your empties?

How to throw out empty skin care products

How are you supposed to throw away all of these different materials?! I investigated.

I’ll let an empty jar of moisturizer sit in my drawer for months. Its presence serves as a reminder that 1. I need a refill and 2. I am just on the precipice of creating more trash.

My rational brain knows that whether the empty jar stays in my drawer for a little longer or gets tossed immediately, it’s going to end up in the same place (the landfill), but my romantic brain dares to dream that keeping the container from the bin for just a little bit longer may lead to great possibilities. Like, maybe the brand will announce a send-back program, or maybe the recycling in my area will start accepting different kinds of plastic, or maybe I’ll come across an ingenious DIY to craft a bird feeder out of it.

And then, alas, I get fed up with my hoarding tendencies and toss the shit — no ceremonial goodbye, just the light, unseeable dew of environmental guilt syndrome to anchor me in my own fleeting existence.

Maybe I take my garbage a little too seriously (hence this substack). It just rattles me that brands are allowed to keep making more stuff without handling the consequences of the waste they put into our (the consumers) hands. If not deal with the waste themselves, these companies could, at the very least, produce the best-possible packaging and share clear instructions for how to responsibly dispose of empties.

As for my empties? I couldn’t find much public-facing information on recycling them. I wanted to know if I was missing something, so I reached out to five different brands whose empties I currently have sitting on my desk. These products include:

• Supergoop! Play! 50 SPF

• Youth To The People’s Superberry Hydrate + Glow Mask

• Good Molecules Niacinamide Serum

• A CVS prescription pill bottle

• Elf Holy Hydration! Face Cream

Below, the responses I received:

Supergoop!

A truly strange experience with the folks at Supergoop! This goes on way longer than I could have anticipated, but the TL;DR: Supergoop! has a partnership with TerraCycle that they don’t really advertise.

While they don’t promote it on the Supergoop! site, I did some easy Googling and found the partnership on TerraCycle’s site does exist. And I was excited UNTIL I saw this note:

Supergoop! is ending its free recycling program at the end of March. Omg?! Did I reach out to these people at the exactly wrong/right time? Is this the investigative journalism no one asked for? A representative from SG then told me to “stay tuned for future updates regarding our sustainability efforts.” I will update my dear readers about what I learn next. To be continued….

Youth To The People

I was delighted by the response I received from YTTP. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but when you see the other kinds of answers brands sent over, you’ll understand why this seemed like a message from the heavens.

We are including some articles that should help answer your questions:

• How to Recycle Your YTTP Products - Youth to the People

• Yes—This Colored Glass IS Recyclable - Youth to the People (regarding the colored glass of Dream Eye Cream and Superberry Hydrate + Glow Dream Mask)

• You Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, Right? - Youth to the People

This brand has some cute content about upcycling its glass jars, and I appreciate that. I understand very little about the science of skin care and why certain packaging materials need to be made in certain ways, but I’d like some more information about the plastic lids for this product. So I asked, and they answered:

The plastic lid on YTTP jars is PCR plastic, PCR means that we’re using plastic content that has been used before. We recycle and repurpose them for our lids, helping to avoid adding new plastic into the waste stream. We’re always looking for ways to improve and optimize our sustainability efforts and constantly collect in-depth statistics so we can make the most informed decisions for our planet.

Choosing glass packaging has always been a YTTP goal, however, we do choose PCR plastic when necessary. For recycling glass and PCR plastic packaging, we recommend cleaning the packaging properly and air drying, for disposal of the packaging, we recommend our clients check out their regional recycling allowances as every county and state has different recycling centers that offer recycling for certain materials but not others.

This is fair enough. This is kind of what I’d expect from any brand — a suggestion for me to look for local places that accept/recycle plastic lids. The truth of the matter here is that most people aren’t going to do this, but it’s not really YTTP’s fault; our country has bonkers recycling regulations that vary from zip code to zip code. Then again, if YTTP wanted to find a way to cut plastic from its containers, I’m sure it could. It might just not make sense money-wise.

Good Molecules

No response. Also don’t ask me what Niacinamide does, because I don’t know. I am a sucker for less-expensive skin care that promises eternal beauty.

Elf Cosmetics

Radio silence :(. Feeling rejected.

CVS

CVS ignored me after I shared I was looking into the case for personal research (not to print in a national publication). Sad for them but really more so for me.

I’ve explored the recyclability around prescription bottles before only to uncover some very unsatisfying answers. A couple of years ago, I did collect them in a box to ship to ship to a church that said it would pass them on to a veterinarian who would use the containers to store medication for stray animals… but once I was ready to ship them I couldn’t find any of the information so I ended up throwing my collection away. Doesn’t get more boring than this!

Some highlights about these orange RX bottles:

• They’re usually made of polypropylene, plastic #5, which isn’t recyclable by most curbside recycling programs.

• Some Walgreens and CVS pharmacies allegedly have medication disposal kiosks; I’ve never seen one IRL. The information around these also suggests the kiosks are for safe disposal of leftover prescription pills, which is important, but doesn’t deal with the plastic part of things.

• People are thinking about alternatives: I came across this design for a pill bottle made of paper (!) a few years ago, but haven’t seen anything come about. Woe is me.

So, what should you do with all of your empties?

I don’t have an answer, really. You can look at TerraCycle to see what brands or retail stores offer free recycling programs or will accept your empties (it appears Nordstrom and Nordstrom Racks offer a drop off program, but none near me!), buy products that prioritize better packaging and try to use refillable options when you can.

We can also support legislative efforts working to put Extended Producer Responsibility measures into practice (maybe I’ll talk more about this at another time!).

With that, happy Global Recycling Day (literally)!!!! May your empties be as sustainable as your dreams.