Zero Waste Week: The swaps to make in your beauty routine, from shampoo to foundation

When it comes to our beauty routines, much of it is prone to being heavily-laden with virgin plastic, from shampoo bottles to foundation tubes, which means they cannot easily be recycled.  

It’s also one of the easiest parts of your routine to make more environmentally-conscious swaps in, as being eco-friendly has become a far bigger focus for beauty brands and consumers alike.  

A growing category in beauty is “zero-waste”, which is where brands avoid contributing to landfill throughout the whole process of making  a product, from sourcing the ingredients to formulation, manufacturing and shipping. That may sound like a simple promise, but as more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry, it’s a welcome commitment.  

The 7-11 of September marks Zero Waste Week, an annual campaign that looks to reduce landfill. 

Since its launch in 2008, it has worked with both individuals and organisations to raise awareness on how to reduce landfill and preserve resources. 

To get involved, we’ve rounded up our favourite products that are zero-waste, plastic-free and all-around better for the environment, without compromising on efficacy.

From body washes to cotton pads, this is everything you need to reduce plastic consumption in your beauty regimen.

You can trust our independent round-ups. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent.

Lush are pioneers in the beauty sphere when it comes to environmentally-conscious products, creating biodegradable packaging from recycled materials and re-fillable buys long before it became as popular as it is now.

In our guide to the best plastic-free beauty products, we loved its slap stick foundation (Lush, £17). It’s a solid bar, dipped in peelable wax and is housed in a recycled and recyclable cardboard box that will keep it fresh when you’re not using it.

It delivers medium coverage with a dewy finish – formulated from 14 per cent pigment and 45 per cent coconut oil – and is available in an accessible 40 shades, with warm and cool undertones.

When using the stick, we found it best to warm it up slightly on the back of our hand before applying to the face and using a brush to work into the skin. Owing to its natural ingredients, it’s best not to leave it in the sun as it will melt.

When applying make-up, many brushes are made with plastic making them difficult to discard of in an environmentally friendly way when you’re done with them.

This Flawless 11 piece bamboo make-up brush set (Wearth London, £34.95) has everything you need to sculpt, blend and buff in your favourite products.

They’re all PETA approved, cruelty-free and are made from sustainable bamboo in place of plastic. The brushes also come in an organic cotton cosmetics bag to make them portable.

This kit will help you perfect your contour, powder and foundation application, blend eyeshadow seamlessly, buff in bronzer and blusher and mark out a sharp cat-eye.

It’s always handy to keep these paper-stemmed cotton buds (It’s all about you, £3) close by to touch up any make-up mishaps such as overlined lipstick or a smudge of mascara.

These bamboo buds come in a biodegradable pack and not a plastic case, they can be composted at home, too.

It’s an especially important product to switch as cotton buds are one of the most commonly washed up items on British beaches after they’re flushed down the toilet.

A real culprit for single-use plastic, the skincare market is inundated with packaging waste, but there are brands out there that are making a difference.

Ditch the plastic shower gel bottles in favour of UpCircle, a brand committed to reusing and repurposing.

All the ingredients in its products are made from natural ingredients that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill: think coffee grounds and chai tea spices. Everything is vegan and free of palm oil too.

We love the UpCircle chai soap bar (UpCircle, £9.99 for two), which is actually a two-in-one product, as the repurposed chai spices act as a scrub on your skin too. In our review of the best plastic-free beauty products, our tester said: “After rubbing the bar all over our skin, we come out feeling sparkly clean with noticeably softer skin, too.” 

For a feel-good, do-good purchase, add this Beco soap bar in honey blossom (Waitrose, £2.59) to your weekly shop. Beco is a London-based not-for-profit social enterprise. Its staff, 80 per cent of which are disabled, create soap, shampoo bars and hand washes that are all vegan and kind to then planet.

Every bar is biodegradable, as is the recyclable packaging it comes in and with each purchase, you’re helping the organisation hire more people with disabilities.

Honey blossom is our favourite scent, as it’s sweet but not overwhelming, and lathers into a creamy soap that will keep you feeling squeaky clean.

When cleansing your skin, especially when removing make-up, we’d recommend using a lukewarm flannel to ensure every trace is gone before you use any other products.

One we love is this Vanderohe sasawashi exfoliating face cloth (Vanderohe, £12), which is also a fantastic natural exfoliator if you want a break from leave-on chemical exfoliants to slough off dead skin cells.

The fabric cloth is made from a mix of Japanese paper, washi and leaves of the Kumazasa plant, a type of bamboo that’s oil-absorbing and anti-bacterial, so effective but gentle on the skin.

To keep in tip-top condition, wash on a 30C setting every couple of days and allow to air dry.

Created in 2019, The Conscious Beauty Co. is a new and exciting brand based around refills in haircare and body products, and it offers an easy way to reduce your plastic consumption in the bathroom. It makes beautifully scented shampoo, hair slick aka conditioner, body wash and hand wash.

With a circular operation, all of its products come in recyclable plastic pouches, and this full line-up starter kit (The Conscious Beauty Co. £35) contains minimally designed aluminium bottles to decant into and keep in your shower. You can also choose between an aluminium cap or pump for the bottles.

Once decanted, simply send back the empty pouches in the recycling bag that comes with your first order. Then when you’re running low, order more refill pouches and the cycle continues.

The kit is a great way to get introduced to the brand and the different scents available such as lemongrass, coconut and pomelo, that will leave your skin and hair feeling silky soft and moisturised.

If you enjoy using a traditional cotton pad to take off make-up or apply your skincare, but need a sustainable swap, pick up these Face Theory tendertouch reusable organic cotton pads eight pack (Face Theory, £9.99).

Made from plastic-free, unbleached, organic cotton, they’re thick, durable and super-soft. Plus they come in an organic cotton drawstring bag which you can use to wash them without losing the discs in a pile of laundry.

They’re double-sided too so if you like to use a toner after you cleanse, simply switch sides, and when you’re done, just stick them in the washing machine.

For more conscious buys, read our round-up of the best organic skincare products