David Jones has launched a new sustainability initiative in partnership with a global recycling company.
Launching across the retailer’s stores nationally on April 22 to coincide with Earth Day 2021, the David Jones BeautyCycle program provides a recycling solution for most beauty packaging which cannot be recycled via regular kerbside services.
Working in conjunction with TerraCycle, who specialise in recycling hard-to recycle materials to ensure no returned product ends up in landfill, special ‘drop-off boxes’ will be positioned instore.
Customers can dispose of their empty beauty packaging at these boxes to help make the beauty industry more sustainable.
Eloise Bishop, Head of Sustainability at David Jones, said the Australian upmarket department store was “committed to reducing our impact on the environment by investing in programs and activities that optimise our use of energy and increase diversion of waste from landfill”.
“We are also committed to exploring new ways of doing business to support a transition to the low-carbon and circular economy of the future,” she said. “Our new BeautyCycle initiative is part of this commitment. It is designed to help our customers dispose of used beauty products in a convenient way and assist in creating a beauty industry that thinks full circle.”
Rachel Duffy-Packer, General Manager of Beauty at David Jones, said the partnership with TerraCycle would ultimately help to break the cycle of waste in the beauty industry.
“As a community we are acutely aware of the fragility of our planet and this is increasingly playing a role in influencing our shopping habits and what we expect from the brands that we choose to support,” she said.
“Our customers have responded well to our Mindfully Made shoppable edit online. We can see their values driving their shopping behaviour, and their desire to do more.”
Jean Bailliard, General Manager of TerraCycle Australia and New Zealand, said the partnership supported David Jones’ mission to move waste from a linear system to a circular one.
“The BeautyCycle initiative will educate customers on a mass scale and provide a simple solution for a busy consumer,” she said.
“Sustainable shopping has to be our future and with the support from a major retailer like David Jones, there is no limit to what we can achieve.”
Materials that can be recycled as part of this beauty initiative include soft plastic, rigid plastic and pumps, glass bottles, jars and pots, masks and packaging, along with make-up products including foundation bottles, lipsticks, eyeshadows, compacts, mascaras and more. Once collected, plastics are sorted, shredded, melted down, and turned into plastic pellets that can substitute virgin plastics to make new items.
The theme for Earth Day 2021 is Restore Our Earth, which focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.