The beauty industry generates over 120 billion packages each year and a tiny percentage ends up getting recycled. Isn't it kind of ironic that an industry meant to make individuals more beautiful is actually not always doing their part to keep the earth beautiful?

The problem with cosmetics getting recycled is that many of the packages are too small to be caught by a Material Recovery Facility (MRF, pronounced MURF If you want to sound cool with your…waste management friends?). Plastic that's smaller than a yogurt cup, flexible packaging like squeezable tubes and packages made of mixed materials are all highly unlikely to be recycled through traditional systems. Most of your cosmetics are, unfortunately, headed for the trash. Say it with me in Debbie Downer's voice: Wah wahhhhh.

But wait! There's a solution!

PACT Collective is a nonprofit collective uniting the beauty industry to reduce beauty packaging waste and work collaboratively toward more circular solutions for the industry. They allow you to search for one of their drop-off locations and properly process your hard-to-recycle beauty packaging that would likely end up in the landfill.  A lot of cosmetics are made out of plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 which are popular for cosmetics. Pact unites the industry for more circular packaging solutions.  Here's what you do. Go to their website, find a drop-off facility near you (and if one doesn't exist, you can ship it for just $12.