AS Watson and L’Oréal Collaborate on Global Take-Back Campaigns for Beauty Packaging

Beauty and personal care products contribute to landfill waste. For example, in 2023, Hong Kong sent nearly 4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste to landfills, with plastic waste accounting for around approximately 19%. Indonesia produces approximately 7.8 million tons of plastic waste per year, with mismanaged plastic waste accounting for 63%.

AS Watson and L’Oréal have teamed up to launch take-back campaigns across 3 AS Watson retail brands in 8 markets (Watsons Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Ukraine; Drogas Latvia and Superdrug UK), encouraging customers to return empty beauty product containers for recycling. The campaigns encourage customers to return empty beauty product containers for recycling, aiming to reduce packaging waste and promote more sustainable consumer habits. This case study highlights selected market insights.    

The Challenges and Considerations

Mounting Waste and Low Awareness: 

• Cosmetic packaging often isn’t handled by regular recycling, particularly in markets such as the UK, where local recycling does not accept small or complex makeup containers. Nearly half of makeup users were unaware their empties could be recycled.
• Early recycling initiatives by Watsons, launched in 2015 in Hong Kong, faced limited customer participation.    

Need for Incentives and Partnerships: 

• AS Watson and L’Oréal recognised that encouraging customers to recycle required making the process convenient and rewarding.    
• In the UK, despite broad recycling systems, makeup palettes remain difficult to recycle due to their mixed materials.
• In Asia, increasing engagement among younger consumers required approaches that resonated with their lifestyles and preferences.

The Approach

Collaborative Multi-Market Strategy: 

• A partnership between a major retailer and a global beauty brand could provide the trust, resources, and rewards needed to change behaviour. AS Watson and L’Oréal jointly designed take-back campaigns tailored to each market’s needs.
• Watsons Hong Kong revamped its in-store recycling campaign with Procter & Gamble in 2021, collecting 200,000+ empties in the first year. This campaign was expanded involving L’Oréal and other suppliers to make it retailer-owned and multi-brand.
• In Watsons Indonesia, the “Do Good Box” campaign launched with Garnier in 20 stores, turning recycling into a trendy activity with instant Watsons Club points and vouchers. Bright branding, social media, and signage made recycling fun and visible.
• In the UK, Superdrug and Maybelline launched the first nationwide makeup take-back scheme in 2020, with bins in 400 stores near cosmetics. The scheme accepts any brand’s empties. L’Oréal managed logistics and recycling, supported by the “Make-up Not Waste” media campaign to spread awareness.

Incentives and Engagement

• Across all markets, incentives were key: Watsons Hong Kong’s MoneyBack loyalty app offers e-stamp rewards and coupons, while Watsons Indonesia gives vouchers at drop-off. These drive participation and repeat visits.
• Store staff were trained to inform and assist customers, creating a positive in-store experience.
• Marketing efforts were collaborative – Watsons and L’Oréal used social media, websites, and even partnerships with local NGOs to promote the message that returning empties is a simple way to “Look Good, Do Good, Feel Great” for the planet.

“Together, AS Watson and L’Oréal have proven that take-back campaigns can overcome recycling gaps in different markets. By addressing initial challenges with a tailored approach – combining education, incentives, and cross-sector collaboration – we have achieved tangible benefits for the planet, for our customers, and for our business. This model of partnership shows that when companies make it easy and rewarding for customers to “do good,” everybody wins!”

— Malina Ngai, Group CEO, AS Watson

“At L’Oréal’s Consumer Products Division, we share a powerful vision with AS Watson: to truly democratize beauty, reaching millions of consumers every single day. Given this vast scale, we feel a deep responsibility for the entire journey of our products, right down to their very end. We’re firm believers in the partnership between retailer and manufacturers to promote new & more sustainable behaviors. That’s why we’re particularly delighted to work hand in hand with AS Watson’s teams across Asia and Europe on such impactful initiatives. It gives us an unparalleled opportunity to connect directly with our consumers and offer them tangible ways to fight packaging waste and pollution. Personally, I couldn’t be more grateful to contribute to this effort, which resonates so powerfully with our core purpose: to create the beauty that moves the world.”

— Alexis Perakis-Valat, President, Consumer Products Division, L’Oréal

The Results

Environmental Benefits: The take-back campaigns have diverted substantial waste from landfills, contributing to a more circular economy.

• In just a few years, Superdrug’s scheme collected over 100 tonnes of beauty packaging waste for recycling. This equates to an estimated 350,000 customers who have dropped off empties, reflecting huge engagement. 
• Watsons Hong Kong collected ~20 tons of plastic and 25 tons of glass containers in 2024 alone, ranking it among the top performers in the AS Watson for recycling volume.

Business Benefits: Customers have responded enthusiastically. They gain rewards and a sense of contribution, making the shopping experience more meaningful.

• In Hong Kong, over 17,000 new members joined the MoneyBack loyalty campaign through the recycling initiative (a 34% increase in “green” members vs the year prior). These environmentally conscious members also turned out to be very valuable customers: they shop more frequently, with an average spend 3× higher than regular shoppers, clearly linking sustainability to commercial upside.
• In Indonesia, stores observed a boost in sales for Garnier products – about double-digit growth in purchases after the campaign launch, along with an uptick in repeat purchase rate.

Building a Sustainable Future: 

• The partnership between AS Watson and L’Oréal demonstrates how retail and manufacturers working together can effectively tackle environmental issues while also delivering business value.
• The campaigns provide customers with convenient options to recycle and integrate sustainable practices into their shopping habits.
• Internally, these initiatives have ingrained sustainability into the company culture and customer journey.