Membership cost varies on company size, specifically the number of full-time employees (FTE) and company type. Visit our organizations page to learn more.

We want every beauty stakeholder to be a Pact member. Brand, retailers, suppliers, media — big or small, we hope you’ll join us.

No, we are not a packaging certification or standard. However, you’re welcome to use it anywhere else in your marketing if you're currently a member.

Join us and walk the talk! Pact membership allows you to showcase your commitment to and leadership in sustainable packaging. Becoming a member empowers you to take responsibility for your impact. Using our educational resources to improve your packaging and enrolling in our collection programs are all exclusive perks to Pact membership that help close the loop on your hard-to-recycle packaging.

The cost of the program varies based on company size. If you’re a member and ready to launch a collection program, email hello@pactcollective.org.

If you are a beauty and wellness stakeholder, yes! We want our collective to be made up of all industry stakeholders. We create change when we work together.

Just because Pact can collect and (hopefully) recycle specific packaging does not mean we should continue to design this way. Refillable components are best, followed by high PCR and curbside recyclable packaging. Pact takes the hard-to-recycle stuff. Ideally, we’re creating less of that.

We need to start designing for end-of-life by using the information gathered from our recyclers to source and design better starting at the beginning of the supply chain. Learn more here.

You must become a Pact member to launch a collection program. The cost varies based on company size and program type. As a mission-based nonprofit organization, we work really hard to keep costs down and make our programs attainable for companies of all sizes. Additionally, the more members that join Pact, the more the costs will come down.

Learn more about collection programs here.

All of the below is Pact-accepted packaging, as long as it’s clean and empty*:

• Plastic bottles + jars smaller than a than a fist

• Plastic + aluminum squeezable tubes

• Ceramic + porcelain containers

• Colored glass bottles and jars

• Caps + closures

• Pumps + dispensers

• Droppers + applicators

• Compacts + palettes

• Lipstick / lip gloss tubes + applicators

• Mascara tubes + wands

• Plastic pencil components for eye/lip liner + brow pencils

• Toothpaste tubes + dental floss containers

• Silicone containers

• Pouches

• Supplement bottles

Our collection guidelines will continue to evolve as we gain more insight from our community and recycling partners into local recycling capabilities. It is always ideal to check with your local recycling centers for the most accurate information on curbside recyclable items in your area.

We aim to find the highest and best use for every material type we collect. Our recycling hierarchy is below, best possible outcomes first, least favorable processes last.

• Upcycled: mechanically recycled into another product of equal or greater value e.g. new packaging

• Downcycled: mechanically recycled into another product of lesser value e.g. warehouse pallets, flowerpots

• Molecularly recycled: e.g reduced to a state material that can then be used to build something else.

• Waste-to-energy: packaging that cannot be used in any other way is incinerated.

Learn more here.

We work with specialty hard-to-recycle partners who adhere to Pact’s protocols and align with our mission. Our collected material is sorted at these facilities, and we then work with them to ensure that the end market is based on the material’s highest and best use. We aim to get this material back into new packaging but this can be difficult!

We have established a transparent auditing system, so we have visibility into our sorting partners’ operations. We have full visibility into the volume of packaging we’re collecting and when we’ve reached the quantities needed to sell the material to end-buyers for each material’s highest and best use.

Packaging that cannot be turned into something else will go to molecular recycling or waste-to-energy (incinerated). While this is better than packaging going to landfills or ocean pollution, we work hard to keep these numbers as low as possible.

As long as it meets our collection guidelines, yes! All of Pact’s collection programs are brand-agnostic, meaning consumers can discard any of their favorite beauty product empties – regardless of brand – in any Pact bin or through any mail-back program. This is intentional and important, and we do this for a few reasons:

• It helps us collect as much material as possible. Higher volumes increase our ability to recycle and turn material into recycled content for upcycling.

• It creates a unified solution that looks and operates using the language and requirements.

• It allows our members to share program costs and allows customer flexibility, meaning costs stay as low as possible this way.

We have to look at our waste issue as industry-wide rather than brand by brand, since this is how we will have the biggest impact and is at the core of why we consider Pact a collective (all industry stakeholders play a role and, as a result, benefit).

1. Clean it out: When you’ve finished your favorite products, dump any unused goop, rinse & clean the package. Make sure it’s truly clean and empty — packages with product left inside get incinerated because they can’t be recycled! Follow our cleaning guide to make sure it’s truly empty.

2. Discard it properly: Check out Pact’s Collection Guidelines to find out where your finished beauty and wellness packaging goes — either to Pact, to curbside recycling, or in the trash. Once you know what’s going to Pact, you can either find a bin near you or mail back your Pact-accepted clean empties.

3. Give it new life: We handle it from here. Once full, Pact bins are shipped to our sorting facility, where packages are separated by material. We aim to find the highest and best use for all material types and, when possible, turn them into new consumer packaging or durable goods.

A lot of packaging can and should be recycled at home. Cardboard, metal, most glass, and plastic larger than a fist (if they’re labeled, numbers #1, 2, and 5). Unfortunately, municipal recycling facilities can’t recycle small packagings like compacts, lipsticks, travel-size, squeezable tubes and other components common in the beauty and wellness industries. Pact works directly with independent recycling facilities that sort by hand and process hard-to-recycle packaging so it can be diverted from landfills.

All locations with Pact Collection Bins can be found on our location map.

If there’s no drop-off location near you, don’t worry! You can send us your empties through our mail-back program.

All mail-back programs can be found on our current members page.

Follow our Packaging Drop Off Guide for a step-by-step process to determine what goes in the bin and what to do with your packaging that doesn’t.

Nope! All of Pact’s collection programs are brand-agnostic, meaning consumers can discard any of their favorite beauty product empties – regardless of brand – in any Pact bin or through any mail-back program. This is intentional and important, and we do this for a few reasons:

• It helps us collect as much material as possible. Higher volumes increase our ability to recycle and turn material into recycled content for upcycling.

• It creates a unified solution that looks and operates using the language and requirements.

• It allows our members to share program costs and allows customer flexibility, meaning costs stay as low as possible this way.

We have to look at our waste issue as industry-wide rather than brand by brand, since this is how we will have the biggest impact and is at the core of why we consider Pact a collective (all industry stakeholders play a role and, as a result, benefit).