Recycle at Boots
What is the Boots Recycling Scheme?
At Boots, we’re doing our bit to help keep our planet beautiful. That’s why we created our Recycle at Boots scheme where you can bring your empty beauty, health, wellness and dental products, from any brand, that can’t be recycled at home.
We know lots of beauty, health, wellness and dental items can’t be recycled traditionally due to their size, what materials they’re made from and various other factors. We want to play our part in looking after the planet by making it easier for Boots customers to recycle items that might be difficult to recycle elsewhere. And we want to reward you for playing your part and making recycling part of your regime too.
How to recycle at Boots
Ready to recycle? Simply download our Recycle at Boots app and sign up to start recycling and earning your rewards!
What can I bring back to the Recycle at Boots scheme?
The Recycle at Boots scheme will take care of the empties that you can't recycle at home. Come into store and recycle your product empties!
You may be able to recycle some of your bathroom empties in your own kerbside recycling at home such as empty aerosols, glass jars and full-size shampoo bottles - always check your local area first. The Boots scheme will only accept items that can't be recycled at home and the Recycle at Boots app will help by validating your items or advising if they are not eligible for a reward within 24hrs of logging.
There are a variety of different types of plastics you can recycle at home, so be sure to look out for the following icons on your packaging: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) which is the material found in water bottles and plastic toys, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) which is found in milk cartons and shampoo bottles and Polypropylene (PP) found in margarine tubs and ready meal trays.
Only items listed in the drop-down list in the Scan2Recycle system will be eligible for a reward, except for those explicitly excluded which will show a warning on the packaging. You can visit the Recycle Now website to find out which products are easily recycled at home.
What can I recycle with Boots?
- Products made of composite mixed materials, such as metal and plastics.
- Products made of non-recyclable materials like toothpaste tubes and lotion pumps.
- Small cosmetics, such as travel minis, samples and mascaras.
What can I recycle by myself at home?
- Hair and body wash, shampoo and conditioner.
- Empty full-size body wash, empty glass jars or cupboard packaging.
- For the full list of items accepted on the scheme, please visit Recyclable Types | Recycle at Boots
Where to find the Recycle at Boots scheme
Have you registered your products on the app? Now you’re ready to take part in our recycling scheme. It’s as simple as 1,2,3 - just simply visit your nearest store, drop off your empties & earn points!
How does it work?
Step 1
Finish your products
Wash and clean your products as much as possible to remove residue before you recycle
Step 2
Download the Recycle at Boots app
Register online with Recycle at Boots
Step 3
Scan your products
Log your empties in the app and allow up to 24h for validation
Step 4
Deposit your empties
When you're ready to shop, bring your approved empties into a Boots store and scan the QR on the deposit box
Step 5
Receive your reward
Recycle 5 empties or more, and spend £10 in-store to collect 500 Advantage Card Points*. Your reward is valid in-store for 3 days
Step 6
Recycling starts
Packaging then gets recycled into new items such as playground equipment, garden furniture and more
What happens when I recycle my products?
Once you’ve dropped your empties into the bins in store, they’ll be taken to MyGroup where the materials will be washed and sorted to be recycled where possible via traditional routes. For example, aluminum is infinitely recyclable and other remaining materials will be processed by MyBoard.
Myboard is a construction board material that uses all the mixed material items that cannot be recycled by any other methods, it is similar to plywood and has lots of different uses.
Any remaining multi-material items will be recycled into MyBoard, a composite construction board material, similar to plywood, which has a lot of different uses, such as being made into furniture, playground equipment and much more.
Organics will be processed through an industrial organics processor. Nothing goes to landfill and nothing is incinerated.
With your help, we’ve already recycled over 7 million items since launching the scheme in September 2020!
*You must be signed in and have an Advantage Card assigned to your account to be able to shop savings. Normal Advantage Card terms and conditions apply. Excludes in-store orders. No Price Advantage in airport stores. Read more Advantage Card offer terms and conditions here.
- The Recycle at Boots Scheme (“the Scheme”) is operated by Boots UK Limited (“Boots”) using Scan2Recycle technology and is aimed exclusively at recycling 'hard to recycle' beauty, health, wellness product packaging which cannot typically be recycled through household kerbside collections, for examples products that are too small (such as travel minis), made of composite materials (eyeshadow palettes, lipsticks, floss dispensers) or from unrecyclable materials (toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes).
Widely recyclable card and paper packaging, glass jars, aluminium packaging, shampoo and conditioner bottles, shower gel plastic bottles etc. that can be recycled via household waste recycling channels are excluded from the Scheme. Please check your local council for details.
- The Scheme rewards Boots Advantage Card members with a total of 500 Advantage Card points when you spend £10 or more for recycling a minimum of five Qualifying Items (“the Reward”). Details of the voucher Terms & Conditions can be found here coupon number 32.
- Details of the Boots Advantage Card Terms & Conditions can be found by clicking here.
- Boots reserve the right to determine which items qualify for the Scheme within the meaning of a qualifying item (“Qualifying Item”) and in the event of a dispute, Boots decision is final.
Qualifying Items
For the avoidance of doubt, a Qualifying Item must be:
Used and as empty as possible;
Whole, complete and in its original unaltered form as purchased. If a product is dismantled into component parts, or items such as brushes and sponges are removed and submitted as separate items, they will not qualify. Outer cardboard boxes or protective plastic foil wrapping are not required for an item to be considered whole;
Individual items from multipacks cannot be used as qualifying Items. These items must be submitted as part of the multipack originally purchased, for example, dental picks, interdental brushes, small make-up applicators etc. These must be uploaded as a complete set to be considered as one Qualifying Item.
The full list of Qualifying Items is detailed here if they are in hard to recycle packaging.
Other hard to recycle items sold in Boots (except for the exclusion list below), can be deposited in the recycling boxes and will be recycled but will not be rewarded.
For health and safety reasons, we cannot accept licensed medicines and any products or packaging that are labelled with a hazardous or dangerous materials symbol including, but not limited to, the following:
Aerosol cans, perfume bottles, nail polish bottles, permanent or temporary hair dyes in any type of packaging, brow and eyelash tints, safety razors and razor blades, disposable razors and razor heads, used PPE (disposable masks, gloves and visors), blister packs and foils, any electrical items such as hairdryers and straighteners, any medical devices, electrical or not, food packaging of any type, including crisp packets.
For health and safety reasons, we cannot accept licensed medicines and any products or packaging that are labelled with a hazardous or dangerous materials symbol including, but not limited to, the following:
Not beauty, health or wellness
Not used or as empty as possible
Non-Qualifying Items or which can be widely recycled
General Recycle at Boots Scheme Rules
In order to take part in the Scheme and qualify for the Reward, you must first create an account on the Recycle at Boots App (“Account Holder”) in the country of your registered address and Boots Advantage Card.
It is a condition of participation that location services are enabled on the device(s) used for Banking and Depositing.
Deposits must only be made in participating stores using a valid QR code located on the official recycling box.
Take a picture of the product (“Scan”) the items you want to recycle (“Bank”). The picture must be of the front of whole product with the brand and product type clearly shown. Only one image per product must be uploaded. There is no requirement to upload images of barcodes or the back of products.
Label (“Tag”) the items by selecting the Brand, then Product Type. If you cannot find your category or type of product in the drop-down list, you will not be able to Bank it, as it is not a Qualifying Item and it will not count towards your 5 items required for the Reward.
Banked items must be validated before being deposited. The validation will only take place during working hours (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, excluding public holidays “Working Day”). Items Banked out of hours will be validated by close of play on the next Working Day. Items Banked during a Working Day will be validated by the same time on the next Working Day. For example, an item banked at 12:30pm on a Monday will be validated by 12:30pm on a Tuesday. An item banked at 7:30pm Friday will be validated by 5.00pm the following Monday.
Once Banked items have been verified you will be able to Deposit the items. Notification of the status of your items will be detailed in the 'Banked' section of your Boots Scan2Recycle Account.
You must then bring at least 5 Qualifying items to any of the 800 participating stores (full list below) and deposit them in the boxes provided (“Deposit”). You will find the boxes located near our No7 counters.
Each box has a unique QR code on the front or wings, which must be scanned to confirm the location of the Deposit.
Once you have confirmed the Deposit by scanning the QR code on the box, and deposited your Qualifying Items, the Reward will be issued in accordance with the Terms & Conditions.
- The Reward will be issued as a barcode and displayed in your Boots Scan2Recycle account in the 'Rewards' section.
In order to claim the reward, you must make a total purchase of £10 or more in one transaction in a participating store. The barcode must be scanned at a store No7 till point (from the screen of your mobile phone) together with your Advantage Card and the products being purchased in order to claim the reward.
Temporary Advantage Cards are not accepted.
Registrations for Boots Scan2Recycle are strictly limited to one per person, and the registered details must match the Boots Scan2Recycle account holder's Boots Advantage Card.
The Reward cannot be used at a self-check-out till.
The Reward must be claimed within 3 days, including the day it was issued, at a participating store, subject to store opening times. For example, if the barcode was issued on a Monday, it must be used by Wednesday at midnight.
Each Reward can only be used once. A maximum of 8 rewards per account will be issued in any calendar month. All subsequent deposits will be accepted but not rewarded.
Only the customer to which the Boots Scan2Recycle account and Advantage Card are registered can claim the Reward.
Only one Reward can be claimed per calendar day, regardless of how many items have been recycled over the 5 items threshold.
Unused Reward barcodes that have expired will not be honoured or replaced.
If you do not have an Advantage Card you can still use the recycling point, but you will not receive a Reward.
No cash or other alternatives are available.
Items once Banked cannot be submitted again for a further Reward as these are counted as part of the previous Deposit. Items cannot be removed from the recycle bin and resubmitted - these will be classed as duplicate (“Duplicate”).
- You can cancel your Boots Scan2Recycle account at any time by emailing: boots@scan2recycle.com or contacting Boots Scan2Recycle Customer Care Team.
Amending or Withdrawal of the Scheme
Boots reserves the right to amend or withdraw this Scheme at any time giving registered participants 14-day notice to their registered email address.
Boots can take such action it considers appropriate, including removing or suspending a customer's Boots Scan2Recycle account and any Boots Advantage Card account held by the customer along with any points accrued, if it has reason to believe there has been:
Abuse or misuse of the Scheme;
Activity or conduct which would give rise to a breach of the Scheme's Terms and Conditions on the part of the Boots Scan2Recycle Account Holder;
Activity or conduct which would give rise to a breach of the Boots Advantage Card Terms and Conditions or any associated clubs and offers.
- For the avoidance of doubt, any decision Boots makes on such an issue is final.
Activity or conduct which would give rise to a breach of the Scheme Terms and Conditions include but are not limited to:
Repeated failure to adhere to the Scheme's Terms and Conditions;
Uploading product images that appear to have been taken from in-store shelf;
Uploading parts of product packaging and not the complete whole product packaging;
Multiple accounts or Boots Advantage Card registrations being used per individual;
Uploading duplicate images or images of the same product multiple times;
Entering product descriptions ('Tagging') manually (from the drop-down list) that are inaccurate and do not reflect the image uploaded;
Uploading same images or combination of products by separate accounts;
- Using a QR code that is not a Boots Scan2Recycle code, on an official collection box, in a participating location.
Participating stores can be found at: https://www.boots.com/boots-recycling-scheme
Participating stores reserve the right to remove the Recycle Bin due to health and safety concerns.
For full terms and conditions, go to: https://boots.scan2recycle.com/terms
For coupon terms and conditions, please see coupon offer 32: https://www.boots.com/information/terms-conditions/coupons-terms-conditions
For frequently asked questions, go to: https://boots.scan2recycle.com/faqs/
Google Play download: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metrisk.scan2recycle.boots
Apple App Store download: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/recycle-at-boots/id6473898575
