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Any conscientious beauty editor knows that beneath the excitement of virtually unlimited free samples (yes, hundreds of products land on our desks every month) lies a constant sense of guilt. Despite advances in the industry, most of the products I receive—the outer boxes, bottles, and tubes—are difficult or impossible to recycle. The word “compostable” was almost unheard of. Whenever I do my quarterly purge of all the half-used sample containers in my home office, the mountain of trash and the work of recycling make me think more about confessionals than product reviews.
So when the highly anticipated JVN Hair cosmetics showed up at my door, it confirmed a trend I’ve been following for the past few years: aluminum packaging is the new wave of “green beauty.” I initially took it as an Instagram trend, as popular selfie brands like Summer Fridays, Aesop, and Buly 1803 were almost guaranteed to get likes. Whether the fresh, shiny aluminum packaging is pristine or completely crumpled and empty, the crisp metal packaging provides a visual ASMR experience that’s perfect for this “double-tap” era. But aluminum packaging also has some pretty obvious eco-friendly properties.
“There’s no doubt that aluminium packaging is becoming more popular,” says packaging engineer Chris Whiteman. He has worked in the industry for 20 years. He says the recent wave of brands demanding “sustainable” packaging is the most intense he’s seen in the industry. “I think the brand is actually being driven by savvy consumers, so it’s a more effective marketing benefit that consumers are willing to pay for.”
When I received new aluminum-cased products like Everist Concentrated Shampoo and Conditioner, the new REN Sample Program, the new Bay Area brand The Rebrand, RMS Beauty eyeshadow tubes, Le Prunier sunscreen, Dove reusable deodorant, Harry Styles’ new Pleasing Hand & Nail Balm, and Dieux Instant Angel moisturizer, complete with push-button keys and aluminum instructions, I also found myself inundated with statistics about aluminum being “infinitely recyclable.”
In the United States, the aluminum recycling rate is about 35%, and the plastic recycling rate is about 9%.
The metal’s appeal is primarily that it can be easily recycled without degrading the material itself (most plastics can only be recycled once or twice), making it valuable to commercial recyclers. In the United States, aluminum is recycled at a rate of about 35 percent, compared with about 9 percent for plastic, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Verity, a company that makes aluminum and stainless steel packaging, says aluminum is recycled seven times more often than plastic. The World Economic Forum has noted that aluminum could be a “cornerstone” in the global transition to a circular economy (one that makes greater use of recycled materials).
“There are a lot of incentives to recycle aluminum because it’s valuable and there’s a lot of market demand for it,” said Matt Meenan, a spokesman for the Aluminum Association. “Pure aluminum packaging increases the likelihood that it will be recycled.” The world still uses about 75 percent of the aluminum ever produced, according to the International Aluminum Institute. (I think that’s a well-respected and often-quoted statistic.)
Sorting machines that use an opposing magnet to extract the metal can help separate aluminum cans of different sizes, while cleaning methods can usually handle residue and most paint. “Even if the aluminum can hasn’t been thoroughly cleaned or the lid has been left on, the aluminum will likely still be recycled,” says Thomas Outerbridge, who has been recycling since the 1980s and is now president of Sims Municipal Recycling, which handles recycling in and around New York City. Even small metal fragments less than 3 inches in size can usually be recycled, he says, while plastics of that size typically aren’t.
“I like glass as an alternative to plastic packaging, but it breaks easily in the bathroom,” says Uni founder Alexandra Keating. Uni is a new closed-loop system for body care products, with refills delivered in reusable bottles (Milkman-style) made from 100 percent recycled aluminum. “Aluminum bottles are lightweight, use less fuel to transport, and produce fewer emissions. Our aluminum bottles can be reused without the worry of leaching that plastic bottles have. And they’re made from a single material, making them easy to recycle even if they’re not reused.”
Here’s the problem: “Making new aluminum is much more environmentally harmful and costly than making plastic, and every year there’s more demand for aluminum than the year before,” says Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company that produces aluminum. The company aims to help individuals and businesses deal with hard-to-recycle packaging. “Aluminum has a much higher impact on the planet than plastic because its mining process is more environmentally impactful and the recycling process is more energy-intensive,” says Nina Goodrich, chief executive of GreenBlue. “Aluminum has a huge carbon footprint when it’s initially manufactured, but it uses 95 percent less energy when it’s recycled,” she says. “If you’re going to use it, you need to make sure there’s a mechanism to recycle it.”
TerraCycle estimates that the “global warming” impact of a new aluminum bottle is twice as great as that of a new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle, the most widely recycled plastic. According to the International Aluminum Institute, global demand for new aluminum is expected to grow 40% by 2050, while demand for recycled aluminum is expected to more than triple. The increase in demand will also drive up production costs. So while low-carbon aluminum mining is gaining traction, with some manufacturers claiming that it produces three times less CO2 than new aluminum, there’s still a case to be made for using material that’s already been extracted from the earth rather than mining it further. “Recycling aluminum is great, but if there’s not enough of it or it’s not available where you live, buy plastic bottles instead of aluminum,” Szaky said.
As is often the case with environmental efforts, this dilemma ultimately prevents what could be a very successful solution from being implemented. The recycling process is complex, and statistics and practices vary across the world—and even within a single U.S. state. Starting in April 2021, Allure magazine will no longer label plastic packaging as recyclable, as research shows that most plastics are never recycled. (Less than 10% of all plastic produced today is actually recycled into other products.) Consumers still have too much responsibility to figure out what’s recyclable in their own municipalities—and few have the time to Google it.
Aluminum leaves a huge carbon footprint when produced, but when you recycle it, you save 95% of the energy consumed.
Post time: May-17-2025