What is BeautyCycle?

A beauty recycling scheme for my John Lewis members.

Why have we created BeautyCycle?

We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment. The beauty industry is a big contributor to global pollution, producing around 120 billion units of packaging each year. Very little of this is recycled, because elements like caps, labels, and pumps aren’t accepted by most local recycling programmes. These often end up in the ocean, on our beaches, or being ingested by animals.

What’s our solution?

We’ve partnered with the experts at TerraCycle to recycle your beauty products. TerraCycle is at the forefront of the recycling world - their mission statement is to “eliminate waste” by recycling previously “un-recyclable” products.

Where do my empty products go?

From the collection points in our shops, TerraCycle will take your products and separate them into metals, fibres and plastics. Each component will then be recycled, composted, or - in the case of plastics - made into pellets that can be moulded into new products like storage containers, plastic lumber and outdoor furniture.

Which beauty products can I recycle?

Most completely empty make-up or skincare products. For a full list of what we can and can't accept, please see the T&Cs at the bottom of this page.

Has the scheme worked well so far?

Since November 2019, more than 15,000 customers have recycled with us, saving 75,000 products from going to landfill - an incredible result!