Tag: reuse

Recycle Week: Floral Street call beauty industry to action

It’s Recycle Week (21st-27th Sept), and award-winning, London-based independent perfumery Floral Street are ‘…calling on the Beauty industry to drive sustainable change.’

We once thought recycling was enough, but the concept of just throwing packaging into the recycling bin and hoping for the best is outmoded and most certainly not enough. ‘It is reported that more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry, much of which is not recyclable,’ Floral Street remind us.

This craziness has to end if we’re to make an impact on environmental change for the better, and so tossing that used container into recycling isn’t enough – even if it can be recycled, it will likely be turned into yet another single use packaging product.

It’s a subject Michelle Feeney, the Founder of Floral Street, feels passionately about. ‘The Beauty industry can do so much more to make products and packaging recyclable and reusable,’ she says. ‘Collectively we can innovate and drive real change. We are an industry of creatives, so let’s lead this responsibly, together.’

‘The majority of fragrance comes packaged in plastic wrapping and foam inserts with ornate caps and lavish additions – sometimes all in one purchase. Often the packaging that can be recycled is not done responsibly which results in unnecessary landfill and pollution of our oceans.’ – Michelle Feeney

 

 

From the get-go, Floral Street have championed re-using and up-cycling their packaging – the gift boxes are FSC certified, confirming they meet the highest environmental and social responsibility standards, and even the grosgrain ribbon they use is made from recycled plastic bottles! Personally, at The Perfume Society, we love using the boxes as seed trays and to store makeup brushes.

 

 

But as well as the boxes being fully compostable, Floral Street didn’t stop there, explaining that ‘…instead of cellophane, our fragrance packaging features reusable, brightly coloured, elastic bands. Our scented candles are presented in glass pots which are widely recyclable, but why not reuse them!

Our entire bath and body range is housed in sleek tubes made from sugar cane bioplastic which is recyclable and sustainably sourced. We have an accreditation to confirm this comes from a bioproduct of the food industry, so it’s not specifically grown just for beauty purposes.’

Why not get creative and have a look at some ideas we suggested on how to re-use your perfume bottles? They are far too beautiful not be given a new life, don’t you think? And we’re in total agreement with Michelle…
‘We believe recycling is good but reusing and repurposing is even better. This is the future of Beauty.’
By Suzy Nightingale

Too good to throw away! Reusing & upcycling perfume bottles & packaging

We’ve all come to realise how important it is to carefully consider what we do with packaging these days, before simply chucking it in the nearest bin – and with so many stunning bottles (and boxes) around, it’s never been a better time to reuse and upcycle your perfume collection. Watch some of the super-easy crafting videos below, or browse for fragrant inspiration…

What to do when you’ve come to the end of a favourite fragrance (other than pop out immediately to re-purchase)? Craft Corner have come up with a brilliant way of creating an illusion that flowers grow from the flaçon itself, using clear resin to resemble water and faux flowers (though we think you could use dried if you prefer). So clever, and a great gift that would be cheap to make, too!

 

 

If you prefer written instructions and a step-by-step guide, the DIY Decorator blog has a great post explaining in easy to understand terms how to create a vase out of just about any perfume bottle – including how to remove the sprayer and top safely – which, they say, will only take you ten minutes. Which of your perfumes would you choose to turn into a unique vase?

 

Those of us who’d like to adorn our necks with perfume in more ways than one can find inspiration for upcyling mini bottles into the most gorgeous necklaces on the Quiet Lions blog. There aren’t precise instructions, it’s more of a visual feast of ideas, so you might need some jewellery-making know-how already before accomplishing these. But for a far easier version – why not loop some pretty ribbon around the neck of a miniature and turn it into a necklace that way?

Sometimes the boxes are just as fabulous as the fragrances, and it’s such a shame t get rid of them. We use ours to store precious letters and cards, buttons and various bits and bobs – so good for organising your kitchen drawers for all those random keys, or makeup drawers to prevent an overspill! And for larger boxes – why not use to store all of your perfume samples? If you have as many as we do, you may want to collect quite a number of boxes to keep… For another idea, we loved watching this realxing video by Eversea Design, on how to turn perfume packaging into a gift box to pass on the love to someone else.

 

Pinterest is full of ideas for how to reuse and upcycle pretty much anything you care to name – be prepared to fall down the proverbial rabbit hole once you start exploring – but how darling is this little pin cushion made from an old bottle of perfume? Another lovely gift idea to give to friends who sew, or to display on your own shelves.

 

 

And really, how could resist another Pinterest idea of turning perfume bottles into place-holders for a dinner party? Add a stick with a card attached to show their name, if you don’t want to have scrolls inside. If you had enough, you could do a whole hall full of tables for a special occasion like a wedding or birthday, with themed tables based on the fragrance bottles, perhaps…? If you don’t have wide-necked bottles like these vintage style ones, simply use the technique to remove the pump mechanism explained in the first video and blog, above.

 

Whichever way you choose to reuse, we’re sure you’ll think of even more ways to keep these beautiful objects forever – how much more rewarding (and better for us all) than to discard and forget. Display your fragrant love proudly around your home!

By Suzy Nightingale