Return your razor blades for recycling, Gillette urges shavers

06 August 2019
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​Gillette is sharpening up on sustainability by taking part in a razor recycling scheme.

The shaving brand, along with Gillette Venus, has launched the UK’s first national razor recycling project with recycling specialist TerraCycle.

It is calling for its millions of customers to help keep the razors out of landfill, as they are dumped in the bin every day, despite the fact they are made from a combination of metal and plastic which should be recyclable.

Gillette has said the programme would accept blades, razors and disposable razors from any brand in the UK.

TerraCycle has launched other similar programmes that help process hard to recycle products that are not typically handled by councils as part of kerbside collections.

To take part in the scheme, customers can register their details online to receive a special freepost envelope that enables them to return their used razors, disposable razors and blades for recycling.

Those razors are then broken down and the plastic will be converted into pellets for re-use in new products and the metals sent for smelting and turned into new alloys.

Gillette will also launch four new packs to coincide with the launch of the new service, for its Mach3, Fusion5, SkinGuard Sensitive and ProGlide razors, which are 100 per cent plastic free and fully recyclable.

The sustainable Gillette packs will be on sale exclusively at major Tesco stores nationwide from this week, with Gillette Venus rolling out the same initiative from January 2020, according to the company.

Matt Thomas, brand manager for Gillette and Gillette Venus UK, said: “We are very excited about the partnership with TerraCycle and the opportunity to offer our customers 100 per cent recyclability of Gillette products, across the UK.

“As the world’s leading razor brand, we saw that it was our responsibility to ensure that we are coming up with sustainable innovations and solutions to the industry.”

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