Sephora is rolling out an empties collection program.

The initiative, called Beauty (Re)Purposed, will be available in all 600 stores in the U.S. and Canada and has been designed in partnership with Pact Collective to help reduce hard-to-recycle packaging waste in the industry.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only around 9 percent of plastic is recycled in the U.S. and according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, some plastic objects can remain in marine environments for hundreds of years. Plastic bottles, for example, last 450 years.

The program comprises two steps: cleaning out the product at home to make sure packaging is clean, unbagged, and free of liquid or product; and dropping it off in store. Then, instead of being thrown away, the beauty empties could become something else — like carpet, pallets, asphalt, new packaging or energy.