The Caps Recycling Program will create new caps out of 100 percent recycled caps, a move that specifically aims to diminish the impact that plastics pollution has on marine life.
Ultimately the scheme will reduce the number of non-biodegradeable plastic caps that litter oceans and beaches, polluting the environment and often proving difficult to clean up.
Ties in with well-being and ethical trend
The initiative ties into massive consumer growth in well-being focused and ethical products, which in turn is fostering increasing interest in sustainable and greener packaging.
Aveda, which is owned by the Estee Lauder group, has built its name as a key player in the naturals and organics region, and in turn calls itself a 'global leader in corporate environmental sustainability'.
The company says it was inspired into launching the scheme after discovering that the majority of caps do not get recycled, ultimately threatening marine life such as turtles, fish, dolphins, penguins and other sea birds.
Scheme aims to increase awareness
"Aveda's Cap Recycling Program was created to help combat the devastating effects of plastic cap pollution - and to increase awareness around this critical issue," said Chuck Bennet, vice president of Earth and Community Care, for Aveda.
"Recycling caps is a meaningful form of environmental activism. Every cap we prevent from becoming trash is one less piece of plastic in the mouth of a baby seal, penguin or turtle."
The Aveda scheme works by enlisting the participation beauty salons and various types of retail outlets, as well as partnering with community schools across the nation to collect caps from water bottles, shampoos detergents and conditioners, amongst others.
It was initiated in schools in the New York area, which has helped to bring in 27,000 pounds of caps, the success of which has prompted the company to expand the scheme nation wide.
Ultimately all the caps are sent to a recycling plant where they are ground down and re-molded into new caps.
Parent company Estee Lauder has also become more involved in the area of sustainable packaging, viewing it as a vital challenge to the company's future.
In an interview with the company's vice president of packaging design, John Delfausse, highlighted how a vital competitive edge can be gained from well thought out sustainable packaging.