Selfridges has announced that its packaging recycling scheme -Reselfridges Recycle – is available at all Selfridges Beauty Halls across Birmingham, Manchester and London’s Oxford Street, offering customers a Selfridges Unlocked Key for every five items recycled, as part of the store’s membership scheme.
The scheme aims to make it easy to recycle fragrance bottles, which it says are often excluded from kerbside recycling and other in-store take-back schemes due to residual hazardous contents and mixed packaging materials. The department store has partnered with MYGroup to implement the system, which allows used fragrance bottles, along with other beauty and cosmetic items from any brand, to be deposited in Reselfridges collection boxes across all four stores.
MYGroup manages the full end-to-end collection and processing of items returned through Reselfridges Recycle at its specialist facility in Hull, East Yorkshire. The company says packaging materials and residual cosmetic product, including fragrance, are recovered and returned to supply chains or re-manufactured into new products through its ReFactory operation, avoiding landfill and incineration.
The nationwide launch follows a trial at Selfridges Trafford Centre in 2025, during which the number of Unlocked Keys collected reportedly increased by 271% between September and November. A full list of products available for drop-off through the scheme and exclusions is available here.
Last year, Boots rolled out a nationwide scheme to reward customers for recycling their empty blister packs at over 800 stores across the UK. All blister packs of any brand and whether previously used to hold medications or vitamins can be recycled through the scheme.
In related news, a clean-up initiative led by L’Oréal, Tesco, Boots, L’Occitane, John Lewis, and other Sustainable Beauty Coalition members seeks to educate consumers on the appropriate ways to recycle empty packaging, guide them to local recycling schemes, and promote reuse and refill solutions. Featuring over 50 retailers, brands and industry professionals, the initiative aims to increase ‘conscious consumption’ via reuse and refill and educate consumers on which packaging can and cannot be recycled at home.
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
The ‘complex reality’ of reusable packaging in Europe
Single-use packaging versus reusable packaging: Which is more sustainable?
The ultimate guide to global packaging sustainability regulation
