TOP IT OFF
Leaving the lid on your beauty empties before tossing them in the recycling? You could be wasting your good work. “If lids are left on plastic bottles, these products cannot be recycled and are taken straight to land- fill,” says Jake Paterson, co-founder
“It is no longer enough to just offset and be neutral” Emma Lewisham
“To us, sustainability means circularity and regeneration,” explains Lewisham. “It is no longer enough to just offset and be neutral; because of the state of our planet we have to give more than we have taken.”
As consumers, we too can influence change. “The more you ask, the more brands are going to start to change the way they do things and the more things will change,” says Lewisham. “No individual is too small; it all adds up.”
Kiera Flynn, L’Oréal Australia’s sustainability manager, agrees. “Look for brands that eliminate the use of virgin plastics as well as help tackle the waste currently in our ocean,” she says.
Garnier is a global brand committed to using no virgin plastic. It plans to do so by 2025, when it also will have its industrial sites fully carbon-neutral.
“We need to be aware of emissions relating to our purchasing and individual behaviours to reduce the impact on global warming,” adds Flynn. says Brianne West, founder of zerowaste beauty brand Ethique. “Even if you live hundreds of miles from the coast, the plastic you throw away could make its way into the sea.”
There’s also the issue of what’s going down our drains – and coming off our skin. “Many of the products we use daily are flushed down toilets, including wet wipes, cotton buds and sanitary products,” says West. “Microfibres are present in wipes and sanitary products and aren’t [caught] by filtration systems so they are released into waterways.”