Ulta Beauty enters recycling partnership
Ulta Beauty is teaming up with packaging waste solution provider Pact to divert beauty product empties from landfills.
The leading beauty retailer is providing collection bins from Pact’s The Beauty Dropoff recycling program at all of its 1,350-plus U.S. stores. Customers can discard clean, empty, unbagged small cosmetics containers in the bins for recycling. Eligible items include plastic bottles and jars smaller than a fist, as well as pumps and dispensers, droppers and applicators, and pouches.
Empties for recycling via The Beauty Dropoff can be any brand, not just brands available at Ulta Beauty. Pact will then upcycle packaging material into another product or downcycle it into a lower-value item by breaking down packaging material to its most basic molecular component so it can be used as raw material in future products.
Packaging that cannot be used in any other way is incinerated to generate electricity or fuel. Ulta will promote its participation in The Beauty Dropoff program by social media, email and in-store displays.
Pact is a non-profit beauty collective founded by cosmetic brand MOB Beauty and clean beauty retailer Credo that now has more than 150 members from the beauty and wellness industries.
Ulta Beauty focuses on sustainability
Participating in The Beauty Dropoff is Ulta’s latest step in an ongoing effort to become a more environmentally responsible company. Other actions the company has taken in the past few years include joining The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), a global non-profit organization dedicated to creating more sustainable consumer products.
As a member of TSC, Ulta Beauty engages in consumer goods industry environmental impact efforts and leverages TSC’s science-based resources and tools. Ulta Beauty joins more than 100 TSC members working together on projects spanning topics such as plastic packaging and circularity.
In addition, the retailer operates the Conscious Beauty at Ulta Beauty initiative, which is designed to help consumers identify clean ingredients; as well as locate cruelty-free, vegan, and sustainably packaged brands and products.
According to Ulta, its sustainability efforts have included diverting more than 14,800 tons of waste from landfill and, in 2021, investing $1.6 million in energy management system retrofits while working toward greater sustainable packaging across its full product assortment.
During fiscal 2023, Ulta Beauty opened 33 new stores, relocated seven stores, remodeled 18 stores, and closed three stores. It ended the year with 1,385 stores totaling 14.5 million square feet.