Advent calendars are like puppies. Or kittens. Super cute and tiny, but also a lot more expensive and messy than you would’ve thought. And, different to puppies and kittens, VERY questionable when it comes to sustainability. Let’s investigate if beauty advent calendars are sustainable – or not.
While for the longest time (it feels like the stone age, and shows my age quite clearly) PAPER and chocolate advent calendars where the thing, nowadays you’ll find advent calendars filled with everything from mini gin bottles to sex toys. When looking at calendars in the beauty world, there’re brand and store specific calendars of all price points. (Although honestly, the pricier the better – nobody really wants that unbranded cheapie lipgloss in your 10€ ‘beauty’ calendar from the supermarket.)
I feel like beauty companies jumped gleefully on the chance to make beauty enthusiasts pay 100€ plus just before the consumerist extravaganza that is Christmas. (Aside, but who actually BUYS those 200/300/400+€ luxury calendars?! I only ever see vloggers and bloggers showing their gifted ones.) Sure, you get a lot of products to try at a (usually) discounted price. Worth it, though?
What’s inside, and is it sustainable?
Apart from the coughcough sliiiightly unrealistic pricing, my issue is the literal mixed bag of stuff you get. No matter which brand or company you go with, you will get some duds. What are you going to do with those? Gift them (to whom?!)? Use them with gritted teeth and some inner cursing? Throw them away?
And even if you use (and love) the various sample sized bits and bobs, look at the amount of waste you then have to recycle and get rid off. Even worse: some of them will inevitably be single-use. At this day and age, we can all agree on that single-use cosmetic items is something we all should shun, right?!
Instead, shouldn’t we start to consume more consciously: companies love samples, because samples lead to more sales. But a LOT of samples are simply thrown away, and again, shouldn’t we encourage a different angle of consumerism: buy something that you love and WILL use up, instead of 24 samples “to try out some stuff”?!
Is the outside sustainable?
And speaking of recycling: have you ever tried to dispose off your empty calendar after Christmas and tried to wrangle that into a bin? A lot of calendars have a plastic inlet which means: first you’ll have to try and separate plastic from paper, then try to recycle it. And IS it recyclable?
I’ve learned that recycling is a complicated matter, especially so for compound material. (Shiny, glossy cardbox, for example, and cardbox with those plastic ‘peek through’ windows.) Also, nearly all calendars (the outer packaging, that is) are manufactured in China with little control over the impact on workers and environment. (More at Vice.)
The super luxe one might even be re-usable. Are you doing that next year, though?
Are beauty advent calendars sustainable?
I get the thrill of getting a little exciting gift each day, I really do. But thinking about the toll this takes on the environment, I think I’ll skip the calendars this year, because – I don’t really think they’re that sustainable. What about you?
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