Online premium beauty retailer LOOKFANTASTIC, part of THG plc, has launched a rcycling scehme to help tackle the beauty industry’s plastic waste problem.

Recycle:me by THG (eco) will allow customers to send all plastic packaging from used beauty products back to LOOKFANTASTIC to be recycled.

According to the British Plastics Federation, only 32% of plastic is recycled in Europe with the remaining going to landfill, incineration or into our environment. The recycle:me initiative has been created to help solve this problem and ensure that end-of-life plastic in used beauty products can be easily processed in a way that is environmentally friendly. 

LOOKFANTASTIC customers in the UK simply need to wash out their used plastic beauty products and return them free of charge. They can include used plastic beauty products from any brand – even if they were not originally purchased via LOOKFANTASTIC – and the retailer will recycle them.

Customers can sign up to the scheme by entering their information and order number into the online recycling portal to generate a QR code for returns, which can be processed at an InPost locker or Hermes drop-off point. Once received at the warehouse, all of the returned plastic will be separated and, through the partnership with Storm Board and Protomax Plastics Ltd, repurposed into weather resistant plastic boards that are utilised in a number of ways, including the build of emergency shelters.

To reduce environmental impact even further, the carbon emissions associated with sending the packaging back to LOOKFANTASTIC is offset through THG’s CarbonNeutral® delivery certification. 

Keely Gough, General Manager for LOOKFANTASTIC, says: “The recycle:me scheme has been launched as part of our ongoing commitment to sustainability and reducing waste at LOOKFANTASTIC. As one of the world’s leading online beauty retailers, sustainability is at the heart of our decision-making process to ensure we leave a positive footprint on our planet – a duty of care that is important to us as well as our customers. We know that recycling processes are particularly complex for plastic beauty products such as mascara, lipstick and skincare items with inbuilt pumps, which leads to many consumers simply disposing of their used goods in their household waste. Via recycle:me, LOOKFANTASTIC can help streamline this process for our customers so we can make a fantastic difference, together.”