Return To Origins Recycling Program

I know that everyone has been saving caps to take to Aveda and some of you may have already dropped some off. Thank you for doing your part to protect Mother Earth. If you do not have an Aveda store near you and/or you do not have an Aveda recycling program at a school near you, I found another opportunity for you to recycle those caps and even more.

Just last month, Origins started their 'Return to Origins Recycling Program', a unique recycling program that is a first of its kind in the cosmetic industry. They will be accepting cosmetic tubes, bottles, jars, lipstick covers, and caps regardless of the brand, at their retail stores and department store counters nationwide (excluding Nordstrom, Canada and Puerto Rico). This is so great! I can't believe that someone hasn't started a program like this before.

But what are they going to do with all this stuff and why are they recycling it instead of us? A lot of cosmetic packaging doesn't even end up in household recycling cans and those that do are usually not recycled because recyclers can only accept items made from materials that they can recognize as PET (soda and water bottles) or HDPE (milk or detergent bottles). Origins wants to make sure that these items don't end up in landfills, so they have committed to recycle them for us or to use them for energy recovery (energy that generates electricity and/or steam from waste). Yeah!

Origins hopes that this program will encourage other companies to follow their model nd start recycling programs of their own. In these tough economic times, I am happy to see companies forging ahead with green ideals. We really need all the help we can get and we need to get everyone involved.

So clean out your empty tubes, jars, bottles, lipstick covers, and caps and head on over to an Origins location near you. To thank everyone for their committment to the environment, Origins will give you a free sample of their products when you drop your recyclables off. Nice going Origins and keep up the great work. You inspire all of us to do the right thing.