We have done many things in order to make our products and packaging as low waste and plastic-free as possible. Not only can you refill and reuse our aluminum bottles many times, but those bottles can also be recycled once they have a few too many dents in them. And being aluminum, they can be recycled and reused an infinite number of times. Even our shipping boxes are reused multiple times before they are recycled at the end of their life.
But there is just this one thing…our pumps. Yes, they’re plastic. And no, we haven’t found or designed a plastic-free pump, yet. (If you’ve got any ideas, we’re all ears!) Most municipal recycling programs do not accept pumps like ours in your recycling bin. And while you don’t necessarily need a pump, it definitely makes using our products easier and more convenient. It also extends the life of the products because you typically don’t use as much when using the pump. Plus, we ask that you reuse your pumps with each new refill bottle.
So, what to do with your Plaine Products pumps when they are no longer reusable? Enter Pact Collective, a nonprofit that’s working to make sure as much hard-to-recycle beauty and makeup packaging is recycled as possible, and working to move companies to more sustainable recycled and reusable packaging. Plaine Products is now a proud member of the Pact Collective!
Plaine Products customers can now drop off broken pumps or pumps you are no longer using into Pact bins at Credo Beauty stores in the US or Hudson’s Bay stores across Canada. Or you can mail them back to us with your empty bottles and we can mail them to Pact in bulk. Please make sure they are clean first! Only clean pumps have a chance to be recycled properly.
Pact works with specialty recycling partners to sort the material by hand, breaking down mixed materials into their various components as needed. The sorted materials are then sold to end-buyers so they can achieve their highest and best use.
The truth of it is, the majority of beauty products are not recycled properly, if at all. That’s over 120 billion beauty packages annually that have a massive environmental impact. Pact is working to change that, by providing a sustainable option for hard-to-recycle beauty packaging and working with beauty companies to improve the recyclability of their products. So, gather all of your clean, empty, pumps and other hard-to-recycle beauty packagings and drop them into a Pact bin near you. We’re proud to be working with Pact to increase the recycling of beauty packaging and working towards more sustainable packaging throughout the beauty industry.
