Most of us are creatures of habit, tried and to followers of our favorite brands. When you want to feel beautiful, have healthy skin and show off your best self, those brands are very engrained in our daily routine. It’s evident by the $483 billion dollars spent globally in 2020 – and it’s expected to grow. The beauty industry – and more specifically cosmetics – is one category where consumers not only consistently buy the same brands, but even the same products. Although brand loyalty is highly regarded, how loyal are our favorite brads to sustainability efforts?

The ugly truth about most cosmetics brands – they don’t always have the environment’s best interest in mind. America has a waste problem. We’re sure you’re aware of single use plastics and how harmful they are to the environment, but have you ever considered single use items in other facets of your life and how often you use them? Moreover, how is the beauty industry combating this issue? Like America, the beauty industry has a waste problem, and it’s not just the packaging.

In 2018, the EPA estimated 26,970 thousand tons of plastic municipal solid waste in landfills – including beauty products. Each time you use a single-use product, the brand is making money since you have to buy one as another runs out, and thus the waste cycle continues. Although many large scale beauty retailers decline to provide product waste and retail waste data, there are still ways that retailers can mitigate waste. Virtual try-on services, minimizing returns, and other great solutions have been introduced to try and enforce waste management strategies.

Want to Make a Difference in Your Beauty Routine?

Are you ready to make the switch to zero-waste, but don’t know what to do with your current unsustainable products? Terracycle’s Personal Care and Beauty Recycling Program accepts any and all skin care, hair care, and cosmetic packaging to be recycled. Simply download a free shipping label and send it off! Now that you know how to recycle your old products, let us provide you with some zero-waste brands to try!

• Aleph Beauty is for the planet in every aspect of their business. With a wide range of shades and tints, Aleph has grown to be one of the top brands to sell zero-waste concealers and foundations. Not sure which shade you are? Aleph offers a free color consultation to find your perfect shade! The best part about this company is their Circular Initiative – Aleph encourages customers to send back their empty containers and jars to be reused and refilled to close the loop of product recycling.

• Hip Hip Hurraw! These must-have makeup staples from Hurraw! will give you that sustainable glow you’re looking for. Hurraw! products come packaged in a glass jar and tin lid. Even the shipping packaging is composed of recycled post-consumer paper, making all packaging 100% recyclable. Try the Bronze Aura Balm as a bronzer and the Copper Aura Balm as a blush – complete with the Pearl Aura Balm as a highlighter for a glowy look.

• No need to eye roll at the amount of waste anymore with Zerra & Co. All products ship carbon-neutral in 100% compostable packaging. Items such as their eyeliner and mascara are sent in small glass pots that can be returned in Zerra &Co.’s Container Return Program for a $1 credit on your next purchase!

• Send a wink to the zero-waste efforts by ĀTHR BEAUTY! From the FSC certified recyclable products to the packaging sealed with a sugar-based biodegradable sticker, ĀTHR BEAUTY goes above and beyond the average sustainability stride. Their eyeshadow palettes are rave-worthy and range from soft neutral palettes to vivid glam looks!

• Whether you’re a matte or gloss lover, ZAO Organic Makeup creates the perfect environmentally-friendly look for your lips! As an eco-luxury brand, ZAO offers refillable makeup for nearly everything in their product inventory, including liquid lipsticks and lip-gloss so it can be used endlessly.

If you care about your carbon footprint, understanding what you waste can make a big difference on how you can change up your daily routine with make-up that makes sense for the planet. With so many different brands and companies to choose from, the switch to a zero-waste beauty routine is right at your fingertips!

Caring about the planet and climate change means doing all that you can to mitigate your climate footprint. After the holidays, there are huge amounts of waste from wrapping paper and shipping boxes to replacing old items you had with new gifts. Some of them might even be appliances. The real question then becomes, “How can I dispose of them properly?”

Appliance “recycling” is not necessarily synonymous to the environmental practice of recycling that we know. This term is used loosely in most circumstances and only refers to the valuable metals that are being recycled while the rest of the product is landfilled. Although 10.6 million tons of durable goods were recycled in 2018, over three times as much were thrown in landfills.

So do you keep them or throw them out? Therein lies the dilemma.

Contrary to what some might think, using old appliances past their useful life is actually doing the environment a disservice. Old appliances that weren’t made with efficiency in mind or that are no longer performing effectively may actually be using more energy than intended, causing your electricity bill and carbon footprint to rise. Completing an inventory of your appliances and their useful life can be beneficial to both.

With appliances ranging in size from coffee makers to washing machines, it may be hard to determine how to go about recycling such machinery. Small appliances include toasters, hair dryers, electric coffee pots, and other similar items. Items in this category are typically made up of metals that are recyclable, but some aspects such as tempered glass or plastic blenders should be removed prior to recycling. Keep in mind that these items cannot be placed in your curbside recycling bin, and instead must be taken to a recycling location.

Recycling appliances that are larger, like washing machines and refrigerators, are an entirely different beast. State energy offices, local electric and water utility companies often have conservation programs that specifically offer heavy trash pickup. Energy Star partners with the EPA’s Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) Program to recycle products like these to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and preserve the ozone layer.

With sustainability becoming a growing concern amongst many companies, and a responsibility to be a good corporate steward, these organizations are providing options for customers to be able to recycle their products or even trade them in for a discount on their next purchase. If your large or small appliance was purchased from a well-known brand be sure to check out their recycling program. Many companies are adopting these types of programs, but if not, you can call junk and recycling services or visit a stores such as Lowes or Home Depot, to have them take apart the unit and properly dispose of the recyclable materials.

Although there is a right way to recycle these items properly, there are a variety of options to choose from. If your electronics or appliances are still in working condition, consider donating or selling the item. This would also promote recycling responsibly by giving the item a new life with someone else. Recycling your appliances properly gives you comfort in doing your part for the environment, and also allows you to enjoy a new appliance that much more!

As a society we are all about speed – especially when it comes to what we wear. Fast fashion is a term that denotes clothing trends that copy runway fashion like Gucci and even athletic brands like Adidas. The draw of fast fashion is its low price point, ease of access for consumers and constant new trends to get behind. While fast fashion is a lifesaver to our wallets, the same cannot be said about our environment.

Each passing fashion cycle lures us in to buy more just to keep up with the latest trends, and we are paying for it in many different ways. Clothing waste totaled a whopping 9.07 US tons in landfills in 2018, and has only increased in recent years. The fashion industry’s negative environmental footprint is no secret. But you might be surprised that in addition to all that waste, the industry also emits more carbon emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined, annually.

With increasing concern about how companies are addressing climate change, customers have an increasing interest in sustainable purchasing choices – and companies are taking note. Corporate sustainability goes in hand in hand with a company’s brand and reputation, and more organizations are feeling the pressure.

Human rights, social justice, natural resource extraction and waste, are three aspects of corporate sustainability. It also means these issues will take effect in both the short- and long-term. Many consumers are starting to look at how their lives affects others, especially as it pertains to these issues – in particular, the fashion industry and the lifecycle of producing and selling clothing. That’s because most clothing is not made to last long, and most items are only worn up to three times before being tossed into a bag for donation or worse – the garbage.

The purpose of developing sustainable clothing is to create pieces where the original material can be recycled so the product can be reused as part of the fabric. Thus, it exceeds the typical lifecycle of an unsustainable piece of clothing. So, what does the lifecycle of a piece of unsustainable clothing look like compared to a piece of sustainable clothing? Both sustainable and unsustainable pieces of clothing are transported and consumed but the key difference is what the pieces are made of and what happens to the item after its useful life is up. Unsustainable clothing ends in a single result: disposal. Whereas, sustainable clothing is part of a circular process where either it’s made up of recycled products or it is able to be reused or recycled again.

While many companies try to claim they have sustainability and environmentally friendly interests, if you look hard enough and ask enough questions, many are not. So who can you really trust to create sustainable clothing? We’ve listed some clothing brands below that have sustainability at the core of their company’s purpose:

• prAna creates every day, sustainable clothing to promote positive change. prAna is transparent in their pursuit of environmental responsibility and their want to fundamentally change how clothes are made.
• ADAY is a brand focused on capsule wardrobes and timeless, classic pieces you can wear again and again. The best part, they have prioritized using recycled and reused water along with using fabrics from regenerative or recycled fibers from Repreve.
• Yoga Democracy is clothing built for the eco-friendly active. With endless collections crafted with material made from recycled water bottles, you can create a Zen environment for yourself and the environment.
• Repreve is transforming the sustainable clothing industry by providing brands we know and love with a new recycled fiber to create their clothing items. Trusted brands that are currently a partner of Repreve include Nike, The North Face, H&M, and even Ford.

So why should you invest more financially and ethically into your clothing choices? Sustainability is all about people and the planet. Fast fashion isn’t likely to become fully sustainable anytime soon, and the sooner we decide to make more sustainable fashion choices the better. The power of purchase is in the consumer’s hands. So why not choose clothing that gives back to environment?