A major benefit to wet shaving is that your greatly decrease your environmental impact. Plastic cartridges and disposable razors are impossible to recycle unless you disassemble them first (that means somehow pulling out the sharp blades – fun!). Think about how often you shave, and then how often everyone else shaves and then how much waste that can collectively create. Shaving is one of the most wasteful practices we take part in on a day-to-day basis so by using recyclable safety razor blades, we can dramatically decrease the amount of garbage that makes it to the landfill.
You know that your double or single edge razor blades are recyclable, but do you know exactly how to recycle them? Most razor blades are made out of stainless steel, meaning they can be melted down and used for new projects. Specialty metal recyclers can take your blades, you just need to find out who those businesses are in your area.
If you live here in Victoria or can make it to our store on Johnson Street, bring your blades in to us and toss them in our blade collection jug. When the jug is full we’ll use the blades for a really cool project (it’s a secret for now but we’ll post more details as the jug fills up).
If you don’t live in Victoria and have recycled your blades at a different facility, feel free to post in the comment section so that others in your area can give it a try.
Recycle your razor blades
I do like the idea of recycling more, and it is true that all the razor blades being used are making a whole lot of garbage. How easy is it to remove one of the wet blade razors? Also do your products come with detachable heads or every blade and handle are one piece?
Great question. A traditional safety razor uses the blades seen in the picture. They load in different ways depending on the style of razor but in general are very simple to safely remove and replace in the razor. The razor blade is a separate piece from the razor or “handle”. Once you’ve bought a razor handle if it’s taken care of it could out live the person using it eliminating the disposable handles as well. The blades are changed on average once every 5 to 7 shaves and then disposed of for recycling.
Cheers!
hi,
i am wondering where in edmonton alberta, or can i ship the blades to bc (as they are the only green province in canada). thx pc
Hi Patrick,
You might try calling the Eco Center in Edmonton and see if they have any local suggestions for you. Shipping the blades in small quantities will likely be a bit cost prohibitive as well as not the safest option. Alternatively if you find yourself a good sturdy mason jar or something similar it will take you many years to fill a container like that which in turn would make the cost of shipping it significantly less and all in all a bit safer for us to handle for you. Let us know if you track down a local solution or if we can help further!
Cheers
Brad
http://www.the-apothecary.ca/wellkept-razor-bank
There is a store in Calgary that sells these boxes. You fill this box with razors and then when its full you send it to the company and they send back an empty box. The link is up top
is this still happening? If not, where else can we recycle these in Victoria?
Hi Brynne,
It definitely is! Accepting the blades for recycling is something we do as it’s part of our responsibility. We put them out into the world in the hopes that it will help reduce waste, and part of that process is doing what we can to ensure that happens. Bring them by the store anytime, all we ask is that they remain unwrapped ( not re-wrapped in the wax paper) and you can dump them in the recycling jar no charge!
What was the cool project you guys did with the blades?!
Hey Kyle,
To be honest we’re still collecting blades! Due to how small they are it’s taken a lot longer to collect enough blades to experiment with than we had expected so it’s still an on going process. We promise to do an update once we’ve made an attempt!
Cheers
Brad