Marks & Spencer expands beauty takeback scheme to 100 stores

Marks & Spencer has expanded its beauty takeback scheme in partnership with Handle to an additional 60 stores across the UK, bringing the total number to 100. 

Dedicated boxes are now available in new locations including Birmingham, Peterborough, Cardiff, and Norwich, making the scheme more accessible to more customers across the UK.

Launched in June 2023 as part of the retailer’s Plan A roadmap to Net Zero, the initiative allows customers to recycle any form of plastic or aluminium beauty packaging - from bottles and tubes to caps, pumps, and tubs – by dropping them into the boxes located within the store’s beauty section.

Since launching, M&S has processed over 1.6 tonnes of beauty packaging that otherwise might have ended up in landfill.

As part of its ongoing partnership with Handle, this year, the retailer has also produced a wide-toothed hair comb, made from at least 98% of the recycled packaging collected by M&S as part of its scheme with the brand. The comb will be available to purchase online and in selected stores for £8.

Katharine Beacham, Head of Sustainability, Clothing & Home at M&S, said: "We want to play our part in driving a more circular economy and the circularity services we offer are key to this.

"Since launching, our beauty takeback scheme has proven hugely popular, providing a convenient option for customers to recycle their beauty products. We’re delighted to introduce the scheme to even more of our stores across the UK this month, to enable them to give their empty beauty packaging another life."

Marks & Spencer's Plan A approach to circularity is focused across two areas; in the way the British retailer designs its products to ensure they are made well and made to last, and in the services it offers customers to give their items another life.

From the beauty takeback scheme with Handle to the new repair partnership with SOJO and its long-running clothes donation partnership with Oxfam, all initiatives now sit together as part of Plan A - 'Another Life' to offer a more seamless experience for customers who are looking for ways they can support a shift to a more circular economy.