Who has an impact on cosmetic packaging waste? EVERYONE! Not just the ladies. We all use cosmetics everyday!

What are cosmetics? Health Canada derives their definition from the FDA.The FDA defines cosmetics as “articles intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise applied to the human body…for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance” [FD&C Act, sec. 201(i)]. Therefore, products such as soap, shampoo, moisturizer, eye and facial makeup are all considered cosmetics.

Why should we recycle cosmetic packaging? Not everyone is aware that cosmetic packaging such as the bottles, jars, tubes can be recycled and it gets thrown out into the garbage, which ends up in landfills. For this project, I will be focusing on plastic packaging.

The big impact. Most cosmetic packaging is made of plastic. Cosmetic products make up a third of landfill waste. Plastic takes about a million years to fully decompose. Plastics that end up in landfills are a TOTAL waste. This means that wasted plastic cannot be reworked and reused. Instead, new plastic must be made which requires the use of even more natural resources. 25 per cent of Canada’s methane emissions come from landfills. The more we can recycle, the less goes into the landfills, which can reduce the increasing rates of methane emissions.