Watsons rolls out region-wide recycling programme with L’Oréal

Hong Kong – A.S. Watson Group’s flagship health and beauty brand Watsons has announced the rollout of its region-wide recycling programme with cosmetics company L’Oréal in Hong Kong. This rides on the hugely successful launch of recycling programmes in Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Through the programme, Watsons Hong Kong has partnered with L’Oréal to roll out the ‘Beauty for the Future’ recycling campaign. From now on, customers can recycle the cleaned containers of any beauty brand, including foundation bottles, mascara wands, skincare tubs, and lipstick tubes at around 170 Watsons stores across the city in exchange for rewards at loyalty platform MoneyBack.

Once collected, its partner V Cycle will break down the wastes, separate them by materials, and work with local partners to transform them into new raw materials. The scaled-up campaign goal is to collect 250,000 containers in the 12 months following the official launch.

Malina Ngai, CEO of A.S. Watson for Asia and Europe, said, “At Watsons, we believe Going Green is The New Beautiful. We made it our purpose to do the right things for our customers and the planet. Sharing a common sustainability vision with L’Oréal, we appreciate this Beauty of Recycling partnership in the region to educate customers as well as engage them in action so that together we can create a bigger impact to the planet today and tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Eva Yu, president and managing director of L’Oréal Hong Kong, commented, “Pre-loved beauty packages have their place, but that place is not in landfills. Our goal is to meet it head-on with the first cross-brand recycling programme involving 18 of our beauty brands in 2021. Today, we are thrilled to work with partners along the value chain to expand the programme and positively impact people’s lives while preserving the planet.”

She added, “With the scaled-up recycling campaign as part of our ‘L’Oréal for the Future’ sustainability programme, we want to further inspire and influence how our consumers think and what they do about packaging wastes – not as something to toss out, but as a resource that can be recycled and used again, and sustainably, reducing the impact on our environment. Our partnership with Watsons and V Cycle will help make this a reality.”