A wee opossum helped by Wands for Wildlife
What happens with your mascara wands when you finish a tube?
If you’re anything like I was they usually end up in the trash. Cosmetics packaging isn’t readily recyclable due to the blend of plastics and other materials. Occasionally TerraCycle has a campaign that allows for recycling of otherwise-uncommonly recyclable cosmetics packaging; right now, they’re partnered with Garnier to offer no cost recycling for those tough-to-recycle beauty and personal care items. Pretty cool!
Recycling = Good; Reusing = Better
I now keep a bin of cleaned out packaging to send off to TerraCycle. While it’s great to recycle when you can, you’ll have a greater impact to the environment if you can reuse. After all, an item in its original form without engaging the additional resources needed to turn Item A into new Item B is more resource- and environment-friendly. For me, this means cleaning and keeping mascara wands I like to use with formulas I prefer. I’m picky, though, and a lot of them are still cast out.
For the environmentally inclined among you: What if I told you that you could save your wands and send them off to help woodland critters?!