#RecycleWeek: Recycling isn’t working

Today marks the beginning of Recycle Week. Whilst we want to encourage recycling and promote the benefits, we feel that there’s also an important discussion that needs to be had around the fact that recycling…just isn’t working.

In fact, recycling is broken. In the UK, we’ve reached a point with our waste that we simply cannot recycle our way out of.

Less than 10% of everyday plastic actually gets recycled in the UK, so we either incinerate our waste, contributing to air pollution, or we ship our waste to other countries to be recycled.

Currently, for every 1,000,000 tonnes of plastic produced in the UK, approximately 85% of it will still end up in a landfill.

One of the catalysts for creating SBTRCT was discovering that in the UK, we leave our ethics at the bathroom door and only recycle 50% of our bathroom waste.

So whilst we agree, to recycle and make items recyclable, is a good thing, it is clearly no longer the solution.

What can we do about it?
The answer is of course complex BUT if we focus on making small changes both as individuals and as businesses, we can move in the right direction.

What SBTRCT is doing to tackle the issue of waste
We’re on a mission to create premium, high performing, solid skincare that provides everything your skin needs - without the waste the planet doesn’t. So…

• Our products are plastic free and always will be.
• All of our packaging is recyclable and the packaging for our solid skincare bars is compostable - so you can just stick it in the compost bin!
• Our skincare is solid in state and therefore negates the need to use excess water.
• We use more of the ingredients your skin needs (rather than bulking out our products out with water) so our solid skincare lasts longer, which means you buy it less frequently and we all reduce the amount of unnecessary waste we create. 
• Our accessories are made with sustainable materials such as bamboo which is the world’s fastest growing crop!
• Our products are palm oil free - so we do not contribute to the personal care industry’s over-reliance on palm oil.

What you can do

• Choose refills over recycling 
• Add a recycling bin to your bathroom set up to make recycling bathroom waste more intrinsic
• Opt for plastic-free products that come in plastic-free packaging
• Wherever possible, aim for zero waste 
• Be intentional and considered when you shop. Don’t buy more than you need #LessIsMore

We’re all still learning, and that’s ok, we’d love to hear your ideas on how we tackle the issues we face when it comes to waste. Join the conversation on Instagram @sbtrctskincare.

*statistics taken from Greenpeace UK, resource.co, CIWM, Science Focus.