Where to Recycle Your Empty Beauty Products in Metro Manila

A beauty lover’s daily routine is built around products they reach for time and again, often to the point of feeling incomplete without them. Perhaps nothing speaks to this attachment more than the sight of emptied tubs and bottles—proof of products that have earned a permanent place in one's beauty routine.

But an empty container doesn't necessarily mark the end of a product’s journey. Where do these tubs and bottles go next, and what happens to them? The less glamorous side of the beauty industry reveals a growing waste problem, with tonnes of beauty products and packaging ending up in landfills each year. Several factors contribute to this, including overconsumption, overproduction, and inefficiencies across the supply chain. While the issue extends beyond individual consumers, being more mindful of how we dispose of empty beauty products is one way to help reduce their environmental impact.

After all, what good are the beauty industry’s innovations if we fail to protect the planet we enjoy them on?

On October 10, The Beauty Loop was launched, a recycling program designed to make it easier for beauty consumers to give their empty product packaging a second life.

The initiative comes from Habitude, a Filipino skincare brand founded by Nikki Santiago-Rivera, Romina Nañagas, and Noelle Hui, with sustainability at the core of its philosophy. As a former managing editor of Preview, Nikki understands firsthand the environmental concerns that come with working in the beauty industry. “The Beauty Loop is our attempt to do something real about it—a system and a habit the whole community can get behind,” she said. “We buy and use beauty products regularly, often as part of our everyday routines. We hope returning the empties becomes part of that routine.”

To make the initiative more accessible, The Beauty Loop has found a home at The Beauty Edit Gallery, located in Spatio at Opus Mall, where beauty enthusiasts can drop off their empty product packaging.

“The Beauty Loop felt like a natural extension of what we’re building at The Beauty Edit—a space where Filipino beauty is taken seriously, in every sense,” shares founder Nicole Morales. “We’re proud to give the program a home here, and we hope it becomes a habit for everyone who walks through these doors.”

So, how does it work?

All packaging dropped off at The Beauty Loop must be empty, rinsed, and dried. Products from any brand are welcome, provided their packaging is made from one of the following accepted materials:

• Plastic: Bottles and tubes for cleansers, toners, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, serums, and sunscreen.

• Glass: Bottles and jars for serums, perfumes, face creams, and toners.

• Paper and cardboard: Product boxes, outer cartons, and paper wrapping.

At The Beauty Loop station, participants are encouraged to scan a QR code that directs them to a short registration form. The program logs each registered visit under a unique reference ID, allowing it to track participation.

These records help the program monitor the volume and types of packaging collected, as well as how the different materials are processed. The data also supports impact reporting and helps identify opportunities to improve and expand the initiative.

Greencycle Innovative Solutions, a Philippine recycling and waste recovery company, is responsible for handling the collected packaging. Rigid plastics are processed into products such as sacks and twine, while flexible and other difficult-to-recycle materials are sent to cement plants for co-processing, where they serve as alternative fuel. Meanwhile, glass is sent to a partner facility for repurposing, and paper and cardboard are directed to a partner paper mill for recycling.

Greencycle then provides a detailed report outlining the total weight of materials collected, their breakdown by type, and the recovery method used for each category. This information forms part of The Beauty Loop’s impact reporting, helping the initiative track how collected packaging is managed.