Recycle with Biome

Since we opened our first store in 2005, we have helped our customers divert tonnes and tonnes of waste from landfill. One way we do this is dealing with 'hard to recycle' items that can't be placed in kerbside recycling bins. The manufacturers ought to take end of life responsibility for their own products, but in their absence we step up!

Please note, that Biome does not get paid to provide this service - in fact, it costs us thousands of dollars each year. We do this as a service for our valued customers.

We do not take waste from other businesses or organisations. Your organisation needs to pay its own way please - you can purchase Terracycle bins here >

When you drop recycling into our stores, please make sure that you have properly cleaned out and sorted the items. Please treat our staff with kindness and gratitude for the service that we provide free of charge to you. And please do not leave your recycling outside our door.

Click on each icon below to find out any special requirements before you drop/post.

Recently, we've been receiving record amounts of recycling. We need your help to ensure the recycling service we provide can continue to run in a functional way for you and our staff.

Please bring your sorted recycling, separated by type, in containers or bags for our store staff to quickly empty and return to you. Please DO NOT leave your recycling at the door. This is unsightly, and easily taken by animals or end up in the environment.

To reiterate: for safety and efficiency, please bring your recycling pre-separated as we are unable to accept mixed recyclables or sort in-store.

PLEASE NOTE: the ORAL CARE program provided by Terracycle is currently ON HOLD. Please keep all your toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes at home, until we advise that we are able to accept them again.



We are no longer accepting:

We accept:

  • Drop off in store

    We know that our
    customers use the in store facility in different ways and tend to bring in recycling in smaller batches more often, whereas our customers who live remote from our stores save up and pay postage to send to us less often.

    So, in store, we have a "Waste Free Replacement Discount", that offers 10% off your same day purchase of waste free alternatives that help you transition from packaged products.

    Replacement products include:

    Biome brand skin care and soap

    Bamboo Toothbrushes

    Stainless Steel Straws

    Bulk beauty and cleaning refills sold per weight (oils, waxes, clays and more from the Biome beauty bar, Good + Clean Deodorant, Love Beauty Foods Toothpowder, Olieve, Dindi, Euclove liquid soaps, Euclove cleaners, Toilet bombs, soap berries)

    Drop off your recycling into one of our physical stores and take 10% off your same day purchase of ‘replacement’ products.

    Please email recycling@biome.com.au for any questions.

  • Post to us

    Post your shoe box full of recycling to us and receive 10% off your next order online!

    Include:

    Name, email address and enough recycling to fill an old shoe box

    Ship to:

    ATTN: RECYCLING
    Biome Eco Stores
    Shop 1, 51 Douglas st
    MILTON, QLD
    4064

    When we receive your shoe box or bag we will send you a confirmation email and issue you your discount code.

    Please email recycling@biome.com.au for any questions.

How to start

CHECK WHAT TO SEND - read details under each item above and only send what we accept

CLEAN - make sure your containers are empty and wiped out

DRY - please dry items before dropping off or posting

SORT - separate items into categories to help us correctly distribute

WATCH - stay updated on what happens to your recycling by following us on our socials

Biome & UPPAREL talking textile waste for the benefit of the next generation

Do you have old, unwanted clothing you want to clear out?

We are partnering with UPPAREL to close the loop in textile waste and rewarding you for doing so!

Have 10kg of your unwanted clothing collected by UPPAREL for $25, and receive a $30 Biome credit for online purchases of $100 or more.

Please note only one store credit available per customer.

Book your pickup now

Waste is not waste until you throw it away. All waste contains precious resources that can be extracted and used again, it's just not always that easy or affordable to do.

Waste to Resources Story

By Biome Founder, Tracey Bailey

Brands that release their products in to the world ought to have designed into their systems what will be done with the product and packaging at the end of its life. However, the vast majority never have, leaving it to local councils and volunteers to clean up and process their waste. Via council rates, we all in fact pay the cost to deal with the 'waste' that companies profit from creating.

Most recently, I have experienced this with trying to get a straight answer from local councils and milk and drink brands on whether their plastic bottle tops can be put in kerbside recycling or not. Remarkably, most brands make zero public mention of what to do with their packaging, particularly the troublesome little piece of plastic that is their lids! The solution is a network of volunteers who are collecting, granulating, then trying to find a manufacturer who will make something with this poor quality plastic*.

*Please be aware that any brand claiming to make their bottles from ocean or other discarded plastics, is not using 100% waste plastic. At least 50% of the bottle must be virgin plastic (and in some cases it is up to 95% virgin plastic) to make the bottle strong enough. Recycled plastic is also considered contaminated and is not meant to be used for products used on or consumed by humans.

Thankfully, there is growing awareness of corporate responsibility for a product from 'the cradle to the grave', but it is taking change-leaders like us and you to inspire brands to act. Back in 2005 at Biome's first store in Paddington, we accepted printer toners, mobile phones and batteries! At the time there were limited options, but we personally paid to send them off. Now, the stationery stores and retailers of these products, provide drop off services, so we no longer have to.

We were the first to embrace TerraCycle's service in stores in Australia by offering our customers the chance to drop off beauty packaging and toothpaste products. We commend the brands that have sponsored TerraCycle to make it free, such as Colgate and L'Oreal (no longer). However, it appears to become too costly for them because they are paying for the packaging waste of all their competitors also! A similar situation has just happened with contact lenses. The brand that was paying for this has dropped their sponsorship as they were inundated, and we are now paying to recycle hundreds of these items for our customers. We noticed that other online retailers such as flora and fauna recycling and brad recycling and terracycle mecca followed suit.

To save them going to landfill, we also accept huge amounts of medication blister packs that we pay for TerraCycle to process. We all know that most pharmaceutical companies make massive profits. I can't believe they are leaving it to a small family business like Biome to pay for their waste to be handled. It's time for the Pharmacy Guild and Big Pharma brands to step up.

Consumer product brands have the financial might and human resources to work something out together to deal with their problem—we can all help them with the will!

THE TRUE COST:

Brands whose packaging can not be placed in kerbside recycling are relying on their single use packaging being sent to landfill. And that has a cost—a direct monetary cost to council ratepayers, and environmental damage that is rarely factored in to the cost of a product. Landfill produces greenhouse gases that cause global warming, which is costing humans and all of nature dearly. Plus, these items are often put into the recycling bin, which messes up the whole recycling process, costing money to remove from the legitimate recycling, or costing the waste of spoiling a whole batch of recyclables.

REDUCE & REUSE:

The number one step must be to reduce the need for packaging in the first place. That is where Biome offers our customers solutions such as: refillable products, making your own, reusables, and products that don't need plastic packaging such as shampoo bars.

The problem with any recycling service is that it does make it easier for us all to choose single-use items because we have peace of mind that the packaging will be recycled. But, it's now widely known that much of the material isn't recycled, or made into future products. There is not the capacity, nor the financial incentive to make it viable. It costs a lot for the labour and machinery to break down and extract the resources (imagine what is involved in separating the materials in a marker pen) and that is why there is a charge for a TerraCycle Zero Waste Box.

WHY WE DO THIS:

We accept responsibility for the end of life of the packaging and products that we sell. Firstly, we are transparent with our customers from the start about the materials and what can and can't be done with them when finished! Not everything we sell can be recycled, reused or composted, but we don't greenwash the truth.

We offer recycling for beauty, cosmetics and oral care packaging (for all brands, not just those we sell), but we aim to help you transition to reusable, refillable alternatives. We offer recycling for the silicone items that we sell only. Silicone recycling is expensive, so we can't offer this for the huge amounts of silicone products on the market.

In addition, we offer recycling of items that we don't sell such as milk bottle caps, corks, and plastic straws, simply because we want to be part of the solution—the mission Biome was founded on.

  • Easy Returns

    45 day returns in-store and online

  • Recycle with us

    Return eligible products for recycling

  • Eco friendly packaging

    Plus we offset shipping emissions

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