The Perfume Shop enhances bottle recycling scheme

As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint, The Perfume Shop has introduced upgraded recycling units across all stores, aiming to significantly increase the recycling rate and environmental impact of its bottle recycling scheme.

Having pioneered the first-of-its-kind perfume bottle recycling and reuse initiative in 2018, and with the rollout of new and improved recycling units in 2023 across all of its 209 nationwide stores, The Perfume Shop has reported that they have upgraded and improved all units. The new wooden models are sturdier and include an additional section for customers to place their used fragrance blotters. In 2023, over 8,611 bottles were recycled compared to 5,152 in 2022, with a +67% YTD increase within the 209 nationwide stores. Thus far, 3,908 bottles have been recycled in 2024.

With the success of the bottle recycling scheme continuing to be as popular as ever with fragrance customers, The Perfume Shop wanted to maintain this momentum by upgrading all recycling units to ensure customers are continuously educated and informed on how to recycle their perfume bottles correctly.

As perfume is categorised under the cosmetics products category, consumers are often confused about how to dispose of their glass bottles correctly. The Perfume Shop has addressed this confusion by ensuring the safe recycling of perfume bottles. With their recycling partners, they dispose of bottles in the most environmentally friendly way possible, ensuring no residual amounts of the scent make their way into the environment versus if left in landfills.

Furthermore, for every bottle recycled, The Perfume Shop will make a donation to veritree to plant a tree and support their ongoing mission to make the planet a greener, more environmentally friendly place. Since working with veritree, 34,908 trees have been planted due to this initiative. Including previous tree planting partners, The Perfume Shop has planted over 400,000 trees since April 2021.

Customers can drop into any of The Perfume Shop stores nationwide to recycle their empty fragrance bottles in the newly installed recycling units and receive a discount to purchase any fragrance of their choice. The Perfume Shop’s scheme now entitles customers to an even greater discount than previously offered, with a new 15% discount off same-day purchases, up from 10%. Additionally, all old recycling units have been recycled properly to ensure they continue to do good while smelling good!

The Perfume Shop aims to continue educating their customers with an interactive map on their website showing where the trees are planted, as well as a rolling total of how many trees have been planted with veritree. The Perfume Shop is currently working with veritree to support the repopulation of mangroves in Kenya. Through partnerships, veritree has already helped the team on the ground by buying a boat and a bridge to extend the planting radius.

Gill Smith, Managing Director of The Perfume Shop, said, “We’re very pleased to see the continued efforts from our team on this bottle recycling initiative with new and improved units across all stores nationwide. When we first launched this scheme, it was the first of its kind for perfume bottles, which we hadn’t seen before. We knew we wanted our loyal customers to both smell good and feel good, knowing what they could do with their empty fragrance bottles. This is exactly why we are continuing to build upon this year on year to make our cause even greater than before.”