How To Dispose of Old Makeup and Cosmetics
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
No matter what your beauty routine looks like, there will come a time when you need to dispose of some old makeup, cosmetics, or personal care products. If you’re hoping to create a more sustainable health and beauty routine, before you get rid of them, please consider the following eco-friendly cosmetics disposal steps!
Key Takeaways
- Simply chucking your old cosmetics, beauty products, and medication in the bin is not eco-friendly or sustainable.
- The contents of these old or expired products can harm waterways, not to mention the packaging may be recyclable or reusable!
- It is important that you be mindful of expiry dates on your products, as expired products can cause skin irritations and other problems.
- Remember that minimalism is best when leading a sustainable lifestyle. Try to make sustainable purchases when new cosmetics or personal care products are needed.
- You can use our six-step checklist below to help you sustainably and safely dispose of your old makeup beauty products!
When do I need to get rid of old beauty products?
Whether it’s simply leftover makeup you no longer use, something that didn’t work for you or your skin, or expired makeup or products, you’ll have your reasons. Almost all cosmetics have expiration dates, and you should check them to avoid using products that may harm you.
How often should you check your makeup’s expiration date?
According to the Mayo Clinic, expired products can potentially lead to clogged pores and bacterial infections. If your old cosmetics don’t have an expiration date, you can use the helpful guidelines on their website. When it becomes necessary to dispose of your old makeup, make sure to do it sustainably!
Why can’t I throw them in the trash or recycling bin?
Please don’t do this! You should practice conscious beauty product disposal and properly dispose of expired cosmetics for numerous reasons.
First, the leftover product inside may be considered hazardous waste. Many cosmetics and personal care products contain chemicals that can harm our water supply if poured down the drain or when it leeches out from the landfill.
Second, that cosmetic packaging may be recyclable! Whether by curbside recycling programs, or alternative recycling facilities, you can more safely dispose of those containers!
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Okay, so how do I dispose of my old makeup?
Before we jump right into safely disposing of your beauty products, let’s first mention how we can be more sustainable in our health and beauty regime.
Minimalism is Best
It makes sense that the fewer products we buy, the less waste we produce. If you’re not too keen on ditching the makeup entirely (no judgement!), try the quality-over-quantity approach. Find versatile makeup and personal care products that allow you to do more with less. You can also do your best to purchase products with sustainability in mind (read more in the next section).
If you need some incentive to pare down your products to protect the environment, perhaps this will do it – the cosmetics industry produces over 120 billion packaging units annually. That’s a lot of plastic garbage in our landfills!
Sustainable Cosmetics
There are many ways we can ensure our beauty product purchase is sustainable. Here are some factors to consider:
Cosmetics Ingredients To Avoid
Many care products, including lotions, shampoo, nail polish and sunscreen, contain harmful chemicals that shouldn’t be on our skin. Not to mention they are polluting our environment by going down the drain. In our article Ultimate Guide: Sustainable Health and Beauty, you can find a list of the dirty dozen ingredients commonly found in these products.
Packaging
As consumers, we can strive for sustainability by looking for more eco-friendly packaging. From hair products to skincare and mascara tubes, there are alternatives to the traditional throw-away containers we’re used to. Please read our blog post Eco-Friendly Beauty Product Packaging to help you know what to look for.
Another easy way to check if a beauty product is cruelty-free, organic, ethical, and eco-friendly is to look for sustainability certifications. Some to recognize for beauty products are USDA Organic, COSMOS Ecocert, Leaping Bunny, Non-GMO, and B Corporation certifications.
Now we can talk about Makeup disposal methods!
I’ve created a step-by-step flowchart for you to follow to ensure you are disposing of your old cosmetics and personal care products in the most sustainable way possible. Let’s make landfill-free makeup disposal popular!
1) Donate Your Makeup
This can be tricky, as many cosmetics may be considered unsafe to “share.” If the product is still unused and unopened, you may be able to donate it to a women’s shelter, theatre troupe, or other worthy cause in your city. If you’ve already used some of the contents, you may have a friend or family member that is comfortable using the remainder. Don’t tell my boyfriend, but I use his deodorant when I can’t find mine!
2) Repurpose Old Makeup Containers
You may be able to find a creative way to repurpose your containers! First, empty them out following the process below, and then use them to store jewellery, small crafting items, or sustainable makeup removal wipes.
3) Bring Your Empty Makeup Containers Back to the Store
This option will keep non-recyclable bottles and single-use plastics out of landfills.
Check to see if the store where you bought your products has a return program for old cosmetics, shampoo, conditioner or foundation bottles. Lipstick, mascara tubes, and eyeshadow palettes can sometimes be returned to where you bought them. A few companies offering these services are MAC, Lush, and BareMinerals, but they will only take back their own product packaging.
You can also check the list in this article for more, but you may still want to check the company website or give them a call before you head down there. Make sure they will accept what you’ve got and ask for any necessary instructions you may need to carry out before return.
4) Alternative Cosmetic Recycling Programs
If you can’t bring the empty containers back to where you bought them, there are many free recycling programs you can filter and search for on Terracycle’s website. Terracycle has created a recycling program that makes it easy to properly dispose of many items previously thought of as non-recyclables. You can search for drop-off points for your empty containers or print a shipping label for the specific program and send them in for free!
5) Check If It’s Recyclable at Home
Unfortunately, this is more complex than looking for that little triangle. Not all bottles, glass, and plastic items are recyclable. Here are a few rules of thumb for makeup recycling options:
- #1 and #2 are always recyclable
- #3-7 are not recyclable
- #5 sometimes recyclable – call your local recycling center to see if they have recycling programs for these
- Common cosmetics items that are not recyclable are plastic bottle pumps, mirrors, black plastics, applicators, and magnets.
To be more sustainable in your cosmetic purchases, follow the tips in the sustainable cosmetics section above and look for products with single-material packaging with the recycle #1 or #2 triangle.
Empty the Products before disposing of old makeup
Whether or not you can recycle the item, first, you’ll need to wipe the contents from the container. Do not rinse and wash them down the drain, as this can introduce potentially toxic chemicals into the water supply. You can use a paper towel for this, or if you’ve ditched those already, fish a piece of paper out of your recycle bin to do the trick. Unfortunately, this will then need to go in the trash.
Disassemble Materials
Mixed materials, like eyeshadow palettes made from plastic, metal and other materials, cannot go into the recycling bin as is. Since the different materials are dealt with differently at recycling plants, recycling old makeup containers intact will have them discarded for the landfill. Separate the components and put those that you can recycle in the bin and those you cannot in the garbage.
6) Find a Local Disposal Center
If the first two options don’t work for the old makeup containers you need to dispose of, see if there is a local disposal center run by the Department of Public Works near you that accepts these materials. Most will take them as hazardous waste – be sure to check their website for hours and whether or not you need an appointment. Getting rid of your unwanted or expired beauty products this way ensures they are disposed of properly rather than throwing them in the trash.
7) Worst Case Scenario
If none of the options above are possible, empty the containers as described and toss them in the trash (ouch). Ensure the caps or lids are tight to avoid any leftover product leaking out. But first – take note of the product and vow never to buy it again!
Final thoughts about how to dispose of old makeup
There is no perfectly sustainable person, and creating waste and garbage at some point is inevitable. Please don’t feel too bad about it. If you’re here reading this article, it means that you are trying to do the right thing for the world at this moment in time. Hopefully, you have learned the steps to environmentally friendly makeup disposal! Now it’s time to be more sustainable in your health and beauty purchases and to continue to incorporate some of these practices in the future.
Remember, every journey must begin with a single step, and this was your first step toward a more eco-friendly beauty routine.
