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Rinse and Return Europe

Our aim has always been to do more with less—which includes keeping our packaging pared back and functional, to minimise the environmental impact of our products and operations. Rinse and Return is our packaging take-back programme. This service allows you to bring any empty and rinsed packaging back to select Aesop stores to be recycled. In-store collection concerns all aluminium, glass and plastic Aesop containers—including caps, pumps and pipettes. Those are then transported to our local partners for recycling. (Please note we are unable to accept Aesop sample sachets or cotton bags.) Once collected, the packaging is sorted and separated by material composition. The items are then cleaned, shredded, and made into new recycled products such as outdoor furniture and decking, playgrounds, benches, or watering cans. As the programme’s name implies, all packaging must be cleaned of leftover product—and dried—before being brought to the store. Doing so increases the likelihood that they will indeed be recycled.

‘It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.’

Anatole France