Hut Group boosts sustainability with new recycling drive

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 28, 2021

The Hut Group (THG) has stepped up its ethical stance on the beauty recycling front. The e-commerce platform that retails a vast range of fast-moving consumer goods has introduced recycle:me by THG (eco), which will allow customers to send all used beauty products, regardless of brand, to be recycled.

THG said the initiative has been created to help solve the growing recycling problem facing the beauty sector, expanding the move to “ensure that plastic end-of-life of used beauty products are processed in a way that is environmentally friendly”. 

Consumers shopping on THG Beauty sites in the UK will need to wash out their used beauty products and can then return them free of charge. They can also include used plastic beauty products from any brand – even if they weren't purchased via a THG Beauty website – and THG will recycle them.

Skincare brand ESPA’s customers already have access to the recycling scheme, while Lookfantastic will launch recycle:me to its customers in Q1 2021, after which all of THG’s Beauty brands will be integrated in 2021.

THG’s initiative is backed by research that shows while consumers demonstrate willingness to recycle, often the UK’s recycling systems can cause confusion, particularly when it comes to hard-to-recycle beauty items with complex plastic packaging, such as mascara, lipstick and eyeshadow palettes. 

According to the British Plastics Federation, only 32% of plastic is recycled in Europe with the remaining going to landfill, incineration or into our environment.

THG founder and CEO Matthew Moulding said: “The recycle:me scheme is part of our ongoing pledge via THG (eco) to reduce our impact on the environment and create innovative new sustainability practices. We have started with our THG Beauty division as we know that recycling processes are particularly complex for plastic beauty products such as mascara, lipstick and skincare items with inbuilt pumps, which leads to many consumers simply disposing of their used goods in their household waste”.

He added: “By spearheading an initiative that is as simple as possible for the consumer, we are hoping to reduce the amount of plastic that goes to landfill, not just on behalf of our own THG Beauty brands but for the industry as a whole. The added benefit is that the used plastic returned to us will be transformed for some fantastic projects, including storm shelters, playground equipment and refugee shelters”.