If you’ve ever seen the images of aquatic creatures swimming in the ocean with plastic six-pack rings around their necks, or terrestrial animals with yogurt containers stuck on their snouts, you’ve no doubt felt the urgent need to step up your recycling game — and you’re not alone. Many people understand the need for recycling, but either don’t do it because they find it inconvenient, or don’t do as much of it as they could. For this reason, November 15th has been deemed America Recycles Day. The national initiative is meant to educate people about recycling and encourage them to take action.
Fortunately, if you’re shopping at Aveda, you’ve already taken a step in the right direction. “At Aveda, we look at the holistic life of our packages,” says Dan Schibel, Global Sustainability Manager at Aveda. “When we are creating it, we make sure that there’s a possibility of recycling at the end.” Due to this philosophy, Aveda doesn’t offer consumers plastic shopping bags, only paper, and a number of our products are made entirely from PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastic. “Our Tulasāra™ collection of products is 100% PCR, as is our Invati™ shampoo,” Dan says. “We also work with bioplastics and bioresins, derived from naturally-derived ingredients like corn and sugar cane, in some of our bottles.”
In addition to letting Aveda take some of the guesswork out of recycling for you, Dan says there are several ways you can be a better recycler at home:
1. Recycle in your bathroom, not just your kitchen. While we’ve all grown accustomed to separating our kitchen trash, many of us are not so disciplined when it comes to our waste in the bathroom. Turn over your shampoo bottles when they’re empty, see if they can be recycled!
2. Understand what you’re purchasing. Shop at stores where they use some of the best practices described here (such as using paper bags, and recyclable bottles).
3. Do something. “Recycling is not one of those things that you can sit on the sidelines and expect somebody else to do,” Dan says. If you haven’t already started recycling, November 15th is the perfect day to start. Contact your local municipality to find out what you can recycle where you live.
