Beauty is a crowded market, and ‘natural’ is the new normal. At UpCircle, we’re shaking things up by sourcing and rescuing by-products from other industries – the food and drink industry in particular – to create skincare that’s sustainable, effective, and downright exciting. We’ve seen the rise of natural, organic, vegan, and cruelty-free beauty. What’s next? Circular skincare. We believe the new consumer-driven quest for sustainability will make by-product beauty the next big thing.
We’ve made our mark as the skincare brand bringing the circular economy to beauty. It’s in our name, after all! UpCircle reflects our mission to ‘upcycle’ ingredients, giving them a second, better life. Our ultimate goal? To leave the world better than we found it by transforming ingredients that would otherwise be discarded into natural, organic beauty products that are better for you and better for the planet.
What exactly is circular skincare?
I’ll use our fruit stone range as an example. Exploring the fruit oil industry, we found valuable skin-loving ingredients were going to waste. Enter: UpCircle’s fruit stone range. For instance, apricot stones, a by-product of the apricot oil industry, are packed with antioxidant vitamin E and anti-inflammatory properties. Both amazing for your skin! We finely powder these stones and transform them into the award-winning UpCircle Cleansing Balm. That’s circular skincare in action.
What are the biggest opportunities?
Upcycling a core ingredient into every product is both our biggest challenge and our greatest strength. Sourcing by-product ingredients requires careful timing and logistics – we need to intercept ingredients at just the right moment, and from just the right place. We also need to find the exact right ingredients that benefit your face, hair and body. But this circular ethos is central to everything we do. It’s what sets us apart, what gets journalists writing about us (hello, six consecutive features in The Sunday Times), and what makes customers rave about us to their friends.
One third of all food produced is wasted. It is one of the most wasteful industries in the world, giving companies like UpCircle a huge number of ingredients with which to do better things. Food ingredients can have powerful effects on the body on the inside and out – so there’s an opportunity for us to create beauty products from ingredients that were being discarded and yet still have a huge amount to offer the skin. We mainly work with by-products from the food and drink industry – think used coffee grounds, brewed chai spices, fruit peels, seeds and stones etc. There are exceptions however – our Bath Salts are made with unsold rose petals rescued from florists, our Eau de Parfum contains jasmine rescued from the bridalwear industry and our Eye Cream contains maple bark extract, leftover from furniture making! The only limit to circular skincare? A lack of imagination.
Case Study 1 – Espresso Yourself
We rose to fame as “the people who collect coffee from cafes and turn it into exfoliators!” So, let’s talk coffee – our OG upcycled ingredient and the perfect example of by-product beauty. UpCircle is now nine years old, with a 22-person team, and we’ve gone from upcycling one ingredient (coffee grounds) to repurposing over 50! Back when we started, my brother and I took turns collecting coffee grounds from a single cafe. Now? Our team rescue used coffee grounds from more than 100 cafes and restaurants across London. To date, we’ve saved over 450 tonnes of coffee from heading
to landfill! And what happens if coffee is left to rot, like it would in landfill? It releases methane – a potent greenhouse gas. But here is the best part… coffee grounds are packed with even more antioxidants after they’ve been brewed. Regenerating coffee is a no-brainer!
Case Study 2 – A Pear-fect Solution
Prickly pear extract is one of our newest circular success stories, and it’s just as impressive as it sounds. Traditionally cultivated in Mexico, prickly pear cacti are now grown in Italy, Greece, and Morocco for their remarkable versatility and value. But with increased cultivation comes a rise in leftover seeds – a by-product from production of jams, juices, nopales and more. Instead of letting the nutrient-rich seeds go to waste, we collect and cold press them into a luxurious oil. This process preserves all the natural goodness, creating an upcycled ingredient brimming with antioxidants, vitamins, and hydrating properties. We’ve harnessed that power of prickly pear in our 100% natural Deodorant. Prickly pear extract not only keeps underarms fresh and hydrated but also helps reduce irritation and soothes the delicate skin in this area. By transforming a potential waste product into a high-performing skincare ingredient, we’re proving that even the most unexpected by-products can shine in beauty. Talk about turning trash into treasure!
Is the beauty world ready?
If we can create high-performing, competitively priced products from upcycled ingredients, we’re showing the beauty industry how to be less wasteful. But here’s the catch: it only works if the industry embraces these would-be waste ingredients. So… is the beauty world ready? Well, if our success is anything to go on, it looks like the answer is yes. Hallelujah.
Written by Anna Brightman, co-founder of UpCircle Beauty. Find out more about UpCircle Beauty here.
Want to know more about upcycled, vegan beauty? Then discover UpCircle Beauty on stand E40 at Natural & Organic Products Expo on 12-13th May 2025 (TRADE ONLY). Register for your free ticket here!
