Learn about our eco-friendly packaging ethos:
The beauty and cosmetics industry seems to be great when we are getting our goods shipped and delivered. As we are all ready to test out the latest haircare product or makeup palette, landfills mount up with empty beauty product containers/bottles that won't be used again. Those empty bottles can potentially be recycled if looked into correctly. That means no unnecessary overload on landfills and reduced damage to the aquatic ecosystem.
Why recycling is so important
Unfortunately, Stephen Clarke (Head of Communications at TerraCycleEurope) reveals an unsettling statistic that puts the beauty and cosmetic industries at an unglamorous point of view.
‘120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry, of these, very few plastic waste items generated in the bathroom are accepted by most public kerbside recycling programmes. Most common beauty products and packaging contribute to the world’s growing plastic waste problem and, without adequate recovery solutions, are tracked for landfills, burned, buried, or simply littered where waste management is insufficient. Many plastic waste items find their way into oceans and waterways, compounding the problem with environmental hazards.’
Unbelievable, right? And that’s not even including fast fashion environmental outcries. As exemplified by Katie Thomas:
‘Ever since that final episode of Blue Planet II aired in December 2017, we have known just how horrific the extent of the devastation that plastic has on the planet, especially our oceans’.
So, why do we find it hard to recycle? Well, it is quite simple – we simply do not know how to (and no judgement). Recycling beauty products is so much different (and a lot trickier) than recycling food packaging/containers/bottles. Not only are we not provided with clear guidelines on what can/can’t be recycled as we do with food packaging, but Stephen Clarke also continues to explain how recycling beauty packaging can be extremely difficult due to the number of complex materials that they can be made out of:
‘Mirrored glass, cardboard sleeves, paper inserts, expanded plastic foam and more have been known to be used in cosmetics packaging – sometimes all in one item’.
CEO and founder of luxury beauty brand Plantioxidants, Josh
Wadinski states: “It takes a company with values to say, ‘we’re going to invest our time in making a positive impact’.” This is simply because some brands tend to use unsustainable packaging that can not only be cheaper than sustainable materials but can cause a strain on businesses operations as brands who had already opted for unsustainable/recyclable materials would have to call back on older versions of the product packaging and items that have already been manufactured – this means, major financial loss (of course depending on the number of products).
Fortunately, we strive to be an eco-friendly brand as we carefully select suppliers that align with this ethos, and we aim to educate our customers and partners. We specifically choose recyclable and/or biodegradable packaging as a result of this.
Flora & Curl Packaging Components
We use eco-friendly shipping boxes
With minimal packaging, our delivery boxes are 100% recyclable and biodegradable. The addition of water-based, non-toxic inks, coloured with vegetable pigments also maintains the eco-friendly nature of our delivery boxes.
To create vegetable-based inks, these vegetable oils include soy, linseed, tung, castor, canola and safflower oils! Working with soybean derived ink releases 2-4% VOCs into the atmosphere as opposed to the 30%, which common petroleum-based inks do. These inks are a lot easier to clean during the recycling process as all that is needed is water instead of harsh chemicals.
We use eco-friendly filler material
Each box is filled with recyclable and biodegradable filling materials to provide the cushioning of the products during transit.
We use eco-friendly postcards and leaflets
Our postcards are biodegradable and recyclable. We opted for our U.S. sourced postcards to be printed on 14pt card stock gloss – the highest of our supplier’s selection of recycled materials consisted, comfortably sitting at 55% of recycled materials used. Our gloss prints are coated in non-toxic water-based aqueous as this further fulfil its biodegradable properties!
What about our product labels?
We can also confidently add that our cosmetic product labels are 50% post-consumer recycled and 100% recyclable. However, they are not biodegradable. This means that our #floragurls can easily recycle their F&C goodies with the label on.
Our leaflets are FSC and PEFC certified, recyclable and biodegradable. Our order slips are also recyclable.
Who are the FSC and PEFC?
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Scheme is an independent not-for-profit organisation non-governmental body that has been prevalent within the sustainability sector. They ensure that purchasers of wood and paper products are promoting sustainable management of forest and provide our suppliers with 100% guilt-free resources from nature.
In addition to this, our suppliers also receive further sustainable materials to create our leaflets from the Forest Stewardship Council. They are also a not-for-profit organisation that are constantly finding solutions to help deter further bad forestry and instead promotes and rewards good forestry management.
Therefore, Flora & Curl leaflets are certified by FSC and PEFC – two amazing organisations that help nurture the planet and ensure ethical approaches to manufacturing and production in the workplace.
Do you think about recycling your beauty products?
As mentioned previously, recycling beauty products can be proven tricky – it simply is not the same as recycling food packaging because, it’s either plastic, glass or cardboard, right? With beauty products, it can take a little longer to decipher the material and assign its recycling properties.
How to Recycle Flora & Curl Products:
Yes, we know it can be a long and tiresome process, but now more than ever it is so important to step up to the mark to help our planet soar and ensure it returns to its natural state! Recycling should be one of your priorities and you can start with baby steps. Here you have it: your very own guide on how to recycle your Flora & Curl products (correctly)!
There you have it, a simple guide on how to recycle and a whole lot of information that we hope you share with your friends and family!
Let us know what you thought of this and if there are any questions you have at hello@floracurl.com
Love,
The Team at Flora & Curl 🌸
