Boots launches takeback scheme for hard-to-recycle products

Boots has become the latest retailer to launch an in-store take-back scheme for hard-to-recycle packaging and products, offering customers £5 worth of loyalty points for every five products deposited.


Boots launches takeback scheme for hard-to-recycle products

Boots’ recycling partner ReWorked will collect the items to be refashioned into new products

Boots will roll out the take-back scheme in partnership with skincare and make-up company No7. The initiative went live on Thursday (24 September) across 50 UK stores. Customers can take empty packaging and products, even those not stocked at Boots, to be recycled via in-store collection points.

Customers can access information via a dedicated website that will allow them to scan their empty products using a mobile phone, before heading to a participating Boots store to deposit them at the recycling point. For every five products deposited, customers will receive £5 worth of Boots Advantage Card Points

Boots’ recycling partner ReWorked will collect the items to be refashioned into new products.

Boots’ trading director and VP of beauty Joanna Rogers said: “To help our customers shop and consume more sustainably, we’re excited to launch the most inclusive recycling scheme on the market. Customers will be able to recycle even the most difficult health, beauty and wellness empties, from old mascaras and empty toothpaste tubes to finished lipsticks and empty vitamin pots. Our customers can then feel even better about treating themselves with their Boots Advantage Card points.”

Taking on takebacks

Boots it the latest retailer to offer takeback schemes to improve the recyclability of packaging.

Last year, John Lewis & Partners launched seven new initiatives aimed at helping customers to reuse packaging and recycle items which are not currently collected by most domestic kerbside services.

After hosting a pop-up with clothing resale platform Depop at its flagship London location last year, Selfridges has launched ‘Resellfridges’ – its first own-brand resale model. Shoppers will be able to buy and sell vintage and modern garments and accessories from Selfridges’ own-brand labels instore and online.

Retailers are seemingly more confident in launching new initiatives focusing on reducing hard-to-recycle plastics, following the lockdown that caused dramatic declines in footfalls on the highstreets.

Last week, the HolyGrail 2.0 project was unveiled, featuring more than 80 major European brands, including P&G, PepsiCo and Mondi backing the use of “digital watermarks” to improve the sorting of recyclable packaging.

The Co-op has started an in-store collection system for “scrunchable” plastics, including carriers bags, yoghurt pots and food wrappers, while NestléCoca-Cola and Unilever all unveiled new products in packaging made from recycled plastics.

L’Oreal confirmed that bottles of Paris Elvive will be made from 100% recycled plastic. It also launched The Make-Up, Not Make Waste campaign, which will be delivered in partnership with waste management firm TerraCycle. It will see more than 1,000 locations across branches of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Superdrug and Boots for consumers to return and recycle empty makeup products, regardless of brand.

Matt Mace

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe