Got empties? Play your part with TerraCycle®

Hit pan? Squeezed all that can be squeezed? Pop your empty beauty packaging into a TerraCycle® bin at your local MECCA store.

To ensure your beauty empties don’t end up in landfill, we’ve partnered with TerraCycle®, the global leader in recycling the ‘unrecyclable’. Rather than throwing away your used bottles, pots, tubes and palettes, the TerraCycle® program lets us send back your beauty waste, ready to be sorted, processed and transformed into something new (and just as beautiful).

Next time you reach the end of your favourite beauty product, head into your local MECCA store and pop your empties into the labelled bin (or pass them on to a team member at the registers), and we’ll take care of the rest.

From August 2022, all MECCA stores will have an in-store TerraCycle® bin that’s made from 100 percent post-consumer waste, including some from the 150,000 empty beauty containers our customers and team members have already recycled through TerraCycle®.

Where can I recycle my beauty products?

In all MECCA stores across Australia and New Zealand from August 2022.

I’ve brought my empties into my local MECCA store – what do I do now?

Head to your local MECCA store and look for the TerraCycle® bin near the registers, or hand your empties to a MECCA team member.

What can I put in a TerraCycle® bin?

Makeup, haircare or skincare packaging (from any brand), such as:

• Shampoo bottles and caps
• Conditioner bottles and caps
• Hair gel tubes and caps
• Hair paste plastic jars and caps
• Lip balm tubes
• Soap dispensers and tubes
• Lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers and jars
• Shaving foam tubes (no cans)
• Lip gloss tubes
• Mascara tubes
• Eyeliner pencils and cases
• Eyeshadow tubes
• Concealer tubes and sticks

Note – the above must be empty or almost empty. TerraCycle® will not accept any returns that still have product in them.

What can’t I put in a TerraCycle® bin?

• Aerosol cans
• Fragrance bottles
• Nail polish bottles and nail polish remover bottles
• Electronic items such as blow-dryers and straighteners
• Any bio-medical or bio-hazardous waste
• Any contents of packaging such as nail polish, lotion, soap or ointments

What happens to my empty packaging once I provide it to a MECCA team member?

Everything collected is sent to TerraCycle® to be sorted and processed into raw materials that can be reused instead of being sent to landfill. Read below to learn how different types of materials are recycled.

PLASTICS are separated by number, melted down, and turned into pellets that can be molded and extruded to produce new products.

METALS are separated by type and smelted into ingots for reuse.

GLASS is cleaned and sorted by colour for processing; it is then crushed and melted to be used in new glass products.