Australia’s first playground made with recycled beauty products has been unveiled at Park Lake State School in the Gold Coast. The school won the Garnier Recycled Playground Competition, in which schools around the country recycled over 145,000 beauty care products otherwise destined for landfill.
Run by Garnier and global recycling pioneers, TerraCycle, late 2017, the Garnier Recycled Playground Competition encouraged preschools and primary schools nationwide to collect and recycle empty beauty products of all brands and raise awareness about waste and recycling.
Park Lake State School was the competition’s top collector and winner of the $45,000 recycled playground made with beauty product waste, which all schools collected during the competition period.
Garnier Marketing Manager Alexandra Shadbolt said: “Garnier would like to congratulate the entire Park Lake State School community on their efforts in recycling an amazing 14,700 units of empty beauty products that were otherwise destined for landfill.”
“Garnier is committed to sustainable practices and we are thrilled to have partnered with TerraCycle on this exciting project to encourage and engage students in the practice of recycling and sustainability,” continued Alexandra.
Park Lake State School Principal, Ursula Carty, said the competition was driven by students who were very passionate about the environment and in need of new play equipment, and were especially excited about the idea of a recycled playground.
“The students at Park Lake are very passionate about sustainability and caring for the environment. By recycling all our non-recyclables, we are reducing the amount of waste ending up in landfill and enabling new materials to be made. This is a win for the environment and for our future,” said Miss Carty. “Through this competition we saw what an amazing community we have and found that by working together we were able to accomplish so much in such a short time,” continued Miss Carty.
The empty beauty products collected by schools were cleaned, shredded and melted down into hard plastic, before being remoulded to make the playground. In its operations, TerraCycle’s goal is to create materials that can be used as a sustainable alternative to virgin plastic, which requires more crude oil in its production.
About the Beauty Products Recycling Program
Technically, beauty product waste – such as empty shampoo bottles, used lipstick and body wash dispensers – is recyclable in Australia. The high cost of recycling mixed-plastic items like these, however, makes the process less attractive for recycling and manufacturing companies. As a result, most beauty product waste ends up in landfill.
The 2017 Garnier & TerraCycle Recycled Playground Competition was part of a broader Beauty Products Recycling Program sponsored by the L’Oréal Australia Group, which includes brands such as Garnier, Maybelline, L’Oréal Paris and La Roche-Posay. The program allows all Australians to divert empty skin care, hair care and cosmetic products from landfill free-of-charge.
Additionally, for each approved unit of beauty product waste received, collectors earn AU$0.02 per item for funding towards their school or nominated charity. The Beauty Products Recycling Program is ongoing, so schools and the community can continue to collect, recycle and raise funds throughout the year. Globally, TerraCycle has raised over US$21 million for schools and charities worldwide.
For more information about the Beauty Products Recycling Program, visit www.terracycle.com.au/beauty-products-recycling-program.
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