Our daily bathing routines contribute tonnes of packaging materials to landfill each year – from shampoo bottles to toothpaste tubes. So how can we recycle more of our toiletries, or even cut out plastic entirely? We bought a basket of common toiletries to find out whether the packaging could be recycled, and how clearly this information was being provided – if at all. 12 out of the 20 products we looked at fell short, failing to provide clear recycling labelling. We also looked at the type and volume of packaging, to see how difficult it would be to recycle at home.
Our bathroom plastics investigation Some 60% of the products in the toiletries basket we bought has no recycling information on the label, despite most of them being partially or wholly recyclable. We found that Head & Shoulders classic clean shampoo (500ml, pictured above), L’Oreal Elvive Colour Protect conditioner (400ml) and Listerine Total Care mouthwash (500ml) – among nine others in our basket – had no clear labelling on recycling, despite being made of recyclable materials.