(see similar recycling icons as well as what they mean here)

My hair gel comes in a plastic container that doesn’t have any such logo; rather it has a circle with the letters PET in it. For some reason, they aren’t using the standard symbols, and so I really don’t know if I can recycle it. Beauty product/consumer product companies are usually pretty responsive, so I sent an email describing the logo on the package, and the logos that I expect to find, and my concern about being able to recycle their product.

Here’s what they sent back

Thank you for visiting Garnier on the Web.

We do not have prepared information to send you in answer to your specific questions.

We want to assure you that we are committed to the protection and respect of the environment. If you are interested in learning about the significant efforts made by our company, we invite you to consult our website at www.loreal.com. You will find details on our environmental policy under About L’Oreal. The “loreal.com” website is the corporate site of the L’Oreal group of companies worldwide.

I was honestly expecting some info that I could use. Does anyone know the PET-in-a-circle icon? I don’t want to assume and ruin the batch or whatever happens if you send something non-recyclable through the system (and gee aren’t there a lot of mythologies and confused perceptions around what actually happens to stuff we put in the recycling boxes?).

Ah well.

Tags: brand, customer service, customer support, icon, logo, pet, recycle, recycling, support, symbol, touchpoint

5 Responses to “Recycling”

PLEASE MAKE A SIMPLY “BROWN” LIQUID EYELINER.
BROWN/BLACK LIQUID EYELINER IS TOO DARK FOR A 50+ WOMAN.

Comment by JEAN 03.24.07 @ 5:42 am





JEAN WE WILL GET RIGHT ON THAT.

Comment by Steve Portigal 03.24.07 @ 4:35 pm





That’s the voice of a woman who was raised on monodirectional messages. I blame advertising myself.

L’Oreal and Garnier suck for sending out such an synthetic meaningless message like that. I’ve just had a similar meaningless conversation with Paypal… Sigh.

Comment by Charles Frith 03.25.07 @ 1:26 am





I want a pink eyeliner
it’s a joke…

actually, the PET circle does not mean that the bottle is made with recycled PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), it only means that the bottle is “recyclable”… (like anything made with PET)

Loreal does not give a sh*t of environmental issues because they transfer THEIR responsibility to YOU ;(

basically Loreal generates tons of PET trash and “informs” the user that the users can recycle it if they wish.

Comment by norman 03.25.07 @ 7:08 pm





One would hope there’d be a more consistent use of standard symbols, but you are right – they do not give a sh*t.

I’m off to work on the pink eyeliner as well.

Comment by Steve Portigal 03.25.07 @ 7:55 pm