No matter if your motivation is to protect the environment, help people in need, or simply earn free products for yourself, there are many great reasons to recycle empty containers!

Your beauty and personal hygiene routines are essential to feeling and looking your best, but the unique packaging may present a recycling challenge. Fortunately, there are many places where your skincare, haircare, nail care, and cosmetic product containers can find new life after you are finished with them!

Recycle Beauty Product Containers for Rewards

Continue reading to learn more about how you can return old containers for benefits like free products, donate old mascara wands to help wildlife, or donate gently used products to women-in-need (perfect for things that didn’t work out, color experiments gone wrong, or free samples you just don’t want).

How to Recycle Beauty Containers and Get Rewards

Green Heart Love Nature

This list of cosmetic companies includes those who will reward you for recycling your containers with them. Take advantage of free products, discounts, and loyalty points!

Recycle for Rewards Offers

Enjoy great shopping incentives for recycling old beauty product containers to get great rewards for recycling. These beauty brands offer in-house recycling options to help close the loop with more sustainable product choices. Contact the store directly to recycle your old beauty containers with these top recycling beauty brands!

• bareMinerals: recycle full-size makeup and skincare from any brand in empty condition and receive 5 – 25 loyalty points
  • may only send bareMinerals products for recycling if using free mail-in option
• Kiehl’s: recycle empty product containers from Kiehl’s brand and receive 10 points per item
• LIP INK: recycle four (4) full-sized LIP-INK vials from LIP INK brand in empty condition and receive free lip color
  • Must purchase an additional full size Liquid Lip Color to redeem. Limit 1 per customer per year.
• Lush: recycle 5 black LUSH pots from LUSH brand in empty and clean condition and receive a free fresh face mask
• MAC Cosmetics: recycle six (6) primary packaging containers from MAC Cosmetics brand and receive a choice of a standard M∙A∙C lipstick
  • BACK 2 M·A·C take back program, M∙A∙C is working to reduce the environmental impact of our packaging by helping to reduce the amount of plastic sent to landfill

Recycle for TerraCycle Points

TerraCycle recycles a lot of products that can be challenging to recycle. In addition, you can earn TerraCycle reward points when you recycle. These 30+ free recycling programs also award TerraCycle Reward Points that can be redeemed for donations to one of many great charities!

From the TerraCycle website:

Eliminating the Idea of Waste® by recycling the “non-recyclable.” Whether it’s coffee capsules from your home, pens from a school, or plastic gloves from a manufacturing facility, TerraCycle can collect and recycle almost any form of waste. We partner with individual collectors such as yourself, as well as major consumer product companies, retailers, manufacturers, municipalities, and small businesses across 20 different countries. …

• ACURE: recycle skin care and personal care packaging from ACURE brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• amika: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle amika aerosol spray cans and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle amika hair care empties and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Aussie: recycle Aussie packaging from Aussie brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Beekman 1802: recycle beauty product packaging from Beekman 1802 brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Better Natured: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle Better Natured hair care product packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Better Natured hair color packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• bliss: recycle personal care products and packaging from bliss brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Burt’s Bees: recycle empty beauty and skincare containers from Burt’s Bees brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Colgate: recycle oral care products and packaging from any brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Dial Soap: recycle Dial Caps, Dial Pumps, Dial Concentrated Refill Packets, Dial Bar Packaging from Dial brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Diva: recycle DivaCup® cups and DivaWipes® packaging from Diva brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• eos: recycle lip, lotion, and shave packaging from eos brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Eva NYC: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle Eva NYC aerosol containers and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Eva NYC hair care packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Eva NYC hair tools and appliances and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Garnier: recycle skincare and hair care packaging from Garnier brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Gold Bond: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle Gold Bond, Cortizone-10, and Selsun blue product packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Gold Bond aerosol cans and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Good Chemistry: recycle perfume packaging from Good Chemistry brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Hair Food: recycle hair care packaging from Hair Food brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Head & Shoulders: recycle hair care packaging from Head & Shoulders brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Herbal Essences: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle Herbal Essences hair care packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Herbal Essences aerosol containers and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Josie Maran: recycle cosmetics packaging from Josie Maran brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Kate Somerville: recycle skincare packaging from Kate Somerville brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Living proof: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle Living proof hair care packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Living proof aerosol containers and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• L’Occitane: recycle beauty, skin care, and hair care packaging from all brand and receive 10% off discount (see details)
• MONAT: recycle skincare, haircare, wellness and pet packaging from MONAT brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Murad: recycle skincare packaging from Murad brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• My Black is Beautiful: recycle hair care packaging from My Black is Beautiful brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• MyKirei by KAO: recycle MyKirei by KAO branded packaging and pumps and Jergens pumps from any brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Pantene: recycle hair care packaging from Pantene brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Schwarzkopf: has separate recycling programs for different product lines
  • recycle Schwarzkopf hair product packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Schwarzkopf aerosol containers and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
  • recycle Schwarzkopf hair color packaging and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• ShiKai: recycle empty packaging including plastic tubes, pots, pumps sprays, jars, complex closures, and glass packaging from ShiKai brand, and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• StriVectin: recycle skincare packaging from StriVectin brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Timeless Skin Care: recycle plastic packaging from the Timeless Skin Care brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Tom’s of Maine: recycle Mouthwash bottles and caps, toothbrushes, deodorant containers and caps, soap packaging, floss containers, and toothpaste tubes and caps from any brand and receive 2 points per unit (see details)
• TULA Skincare: recycle jars, tubes & blister packs from TULA Skincare brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)
• Weleda: recycle personal care packaging from Weleda brand and receive 100 points per pound (see details)

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NOTE: Previously, there were recycling programs available at Aveda, Everyday Minerals, Innisfree, Origins, Pacifica Beauty, Schmidt’s, Skyn ICELAND, Stowaway Cosmetics, and ZOYA, but as of article posting time, these programs appear to have been discontinued.

Other Empty Beauty Container Recycling Programs

It’s still a great idea to recycle empty containers — even if you won’t be incentivized to do so. Here are programs that help you to recycle unwanted and empty items.

Empty Bottles for Recycling

Wands For Wildlife

Your old mascara wands can help wildlife when used to remove fly eggs and larvae from the fur of animals (they work great because the bristles are so close together). Wand donations are accepted only during annual drives.

Other Non-Empty Beauty Product Donation Programs

We all share the experience of trying out a new product, but for whatever reason, it just doesn’t work out. I’ve had this happen with just about every product type out there (shampoo, makeup, nail polish, moisturizer, etc). While it’s great to sample the latest and greatest products, it stinks to feel wasteful when you don’t finish the bottle!

Project Beauty Share

Project Beauty Share is a charitable organization that accepts new and gently-used beauty products and gives them to women in need. Check online for more information about what Project Beauty Share accepts including items like these:

• Barely Used Makeup
• Facial Cleansers & Moisturizers
• Body Lotion & Sunscreen (more than 1/2 full)
• Shampoo & Conditioner (more than 1/2 full)
• Clean or New Makeup Brushes
• Perfume & Body Sprays
• Hair Styling Products & Tools
• Clean Makeup Bags

Donations can be dropped off at dozens of locations in Washington and Idaho or can be mailed to: Project Beauty Share, 2718 E. Sprague, Spokane, WA  99202

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In addition to all the places to recycle your old beauty containers, you may also be interested in learning more about how to be rewarded for:

• recycling household waste
•  recycling old clothing items & shoes
• recycling old electronics

Thank you for saving and sharing!

Recycle Beauty Product Containers for Rewards at 35+ Places