Project
There is currently no universal outlet for beauty product recycling. ReGlam was designed to incentivize shoppers to make recycling an easy and accessible part of the consumption cycle.

Aimed to reduce the environmental impact of the cosmetics industry, ReGlam is a seamless solution for cosmetics retailers to collect plastic empties from shoppers while rewarding them with points and discounts. By distributing these cosmetic empties to specialized recycling programs, ReGlam ensures that these containers are recycled responsibly.

Challenge
There are limited outlets for recycling cosmetic containers currently available for the mass consumer market. These cosmetic empties cannot get processed in regular recycling programs due to their complex combination of rigid plastics, and an alarming amount of plastic waste from the industry is ending up in landfills as a result.

Outcome
To better understand the habits of beauty consumers, I tested a pilot recycling program with my internship employer Make Up For Ever. Recycling bins were placed in primary company locations within New York City, and employees were asked to deposit their empty cosmetics over the 2-month run of the program.

The pilot received an enthusiastic response and saw great demand for recycling outlets in the beauty space. It later helped develop the business model design of ReGlam and core learnings were adapted for the multi-brand retail experience.