How to get paid to recycle from major retailers…

How to get paid to recycle from major retailers including Boots, John Lewis, Lush and more

After all the gift giving and receiving throughout Christmas lots of people may be thinking about a clear out.

Whether it be old shoes or skin care products, many people just chuck their old items away. But you can actually benefit from keeping them and giving them back to the retailer.

And as you benefit, so does the planet with items being able to be recycled, and eventually, reused.

So with this in mind, here are five retailers you can return items to - and get money back.

1. Boots

If you recycle five empty toiletry or cosmetic containers at a participating Boots store, you can get a voucher for 500 bonus Advantage Card points. This is worth £5 when you next spend £10 at Boots - and it's worth doing if it won't cost you any money.

You can use the scheme to recycle containers which can't be recycled through your bins at home such as mascara and lipstick with the retailer saying that they won't offer the reward for items which can be recycled at home, such as shampoo and shower gel bottles.

2. H&M

If you have unwanted clothes or home textiles, regardless of its condition, take it into H&M.

If you can do this, you could get a £5 off a £25 voucher. And bonus points if you need clothes from there anyway.

But what happens to the clothes/textiles you drop off?

H&M says it does three things with the items they get handed in:

Rewear – clothes that can be worn again will be sold as second-hand clothes.
Reuse – old clothes and textiles are turned into other products, including cleaning cloths.
Recycle – everything else is turned into textile fibres and used for things such as insulation.

3. John Lewis

You can get a £5 voucher to spend on beauty at John Lewis if you recycle five empty make-up and skincare containers. This can be any brand.

4. Lush

Lush have two different recycling schemes but it must be noted they need to be cleaned and dried before you return the empty items.

This means you can benefit from the following:

If you save up five of its black recyclable pots - or any full-size plastic packaging, you can take them to any store to exchange for a free fresh face mask. This normally costs customers £10.
Alternatively, you can take any empty individual qualifying Lush packaging to a store to get 50p off a full-price in-store. You'll get 50p off for each full-size item you recycle. You can also get 5p off for each 10ml sample pot. However if you are going to use the money off, it must be used during that same day when you are handing over the items.