I'll be the first to admit I have no idea whether to chuck my empty perfume bottles in the red or yellow bin once I've spritzed them dry.
As of today, I finally know the answer - and it's neither.
Mecca stores all over NZ have just added perfume glass to their recycling program, which already saves a bunch of makeup and skincare empties from landfill.
SOURCE: Mecca NZ
Bet you didn't know loads of our beauty empties - including our fragrance bottles - are not accepted in curbside recycling in New Zealand.
It's because the bottles come in all sorts of glass types, with spray pumps, metal bits, and fancy decorations that need special handling.
Now, instead of scratching your head over where to toss your empty fragrances, you can swing by any Mecca store and drop them into the TerraCycle bins.
Since kicking off this recycling gig over in Aussie in 2019 and bringing it to NZ in July 2022, Mecca says that beauty lovers across Aussie and NZ have saved over a million tricky-to-recycle beauty products from going to waste.
In case you didn't already know, Mecca recycles any brand of makeup, haircare or skincare packaging including:
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
Empty perfume/fragrance glass containers, including fragrance sample vials, travel-sized and mini-fragrance
Oh, and there's no need to scrub those bottles squeaky clean, just make sure they're mostly empty before you pop them into the recycling bin.
That's it, I'm off to finally get rid of those empty perfume bottles collecting dust in my bathroom... and let's be honest, I'll prob buy a new one.
