Great British Beauty Clean Up 2026 to tackle cosmetic packaging waste

MYGroup has partnered with the British Beauty Council to support the Great British Beauty Clean Up 2026, a campaign aimed at reducing cosmetic waste and improving awareness of recycling options for beauty products.

The initiative brings together brands, retailers and professionals across the beauty sector to highlight recycling routes for items that are typically unsuitable for standard kerbside collections. The campaign began on 2 March and runs throughout the month, aligning with Global Recycling Day on 18 March and the International Day of Zero Waste on 30 March.

As part of the campaign, MYGroup and the British Beauty Council are promoting a take-back scheme designed to encourage brands, retailers, salons and spas to participate. The programme aims to support consumers in refilling, reusing and recycling beauty products. Supporters of the Beauty Council and the Sustainable Beauty Coalition are also able to access discounts linked to the scheme.

The take-back system allows a range of used cosmetics and beauty products to be collected, including items that may contain hazardous materials or are difficult to recycle through conventional systems, such as blister packs. Products can be deposited loose into branded collection boxes placed in retail stores, salons and other participating locations.

According to MYGroup, the company operates a zero-to-landfill take-back model for cosmetic waste. It currently runs collection schemes across the UK in partnership with retailers including Boots, Harrods (H beauty), Cult Beauty, LOOKFANTASTIC, Selfridges and Superdrug. Collectively, these programmes have diverted more than 40,000 tonnes of beauty products from landfill.

The industry knows it has a waste problem. The Great British Beauty Clean Up is about facing up to it, and MYGroup is here to make sure that action leads somewhere real. The campaign does something regulatory pressure alone cannot: it creates a moment where the whole industry is pointed in the same direction, asking the same question: “what happens to my beauty waste?”. Answering that question has been our business for years. We’ve built the infrastructure, developed the processing capability and proved the model.

Steve Carrie, Group Director, MYGroup.

MYGroup also processes materials that are often excluded from standard recycling programmes, including fragrance bottles, nail varnish containers and cosmetic products with residual contents. Recovered materials are separated and repurposed, with some converted into biofuel and others remanufactured through the company’s ReFactory operation into new products, including furniture and fittings made from recovered plastics.

The company’s broader waste management approach also includes its Bio-Park facility, which focuses on developing bio-derived materials using processes such as insect bioconversion, mycelium growth and algal cultivation.