In today’s world of cultural awareness and responsibility, everyone seems to be looking for ways to increase their sustainability. Systems from no-buy rules to products offering fully compostable benefits make it difficult to find a system that works for everyone. Enter: Project Pan.
What is Project Pan?
First order of business: what is Project Pan? Project Pan is a movement that encourages people to use up what they have before purchasing another product.
People are free to practice Project Pan with anything, but the most common items are makeup products like palettes, serums, foundations, and lipsticks. This is where Project Pan gets its name, from the concept of “hitting pan,” or the bottom of an eyeshadow or other palette.
Project Pan is also frequently combined with additional trends like “no buy” or “low buy,” which encourages people not to purchase a given product that year, or to only purchase another product to replace one that you’ve already used up.
Why you should join
Rather than leaving your collection of products to a slow death in the back of your makeup drawer, Project Pan encourages you to use them rather than allowing more to accumulate. This reduces the amount of waste you produce by simply throwing all of these products away, and pushes you to use the products you already own before buying another.
Not only does this increase your sustainability, but for college students tight on money, it also helps to get the most out of the products you already own and discourages buying new products until you no longer have any left.
Rather than spending more money on products that will be banished to the back of the closet in a few weeks, Project Pan helps you to use the money you’ve already spent to its fullest!
My experience with the project
I’ve made the decision to participate in Project Pan this year. Two months in, I come to you with my results.
The main goal of Project Pan (to hit “pan,” as it were) is certainly a success. I’ve gotten rid of nearly 10 products so far, including but not limited to several hand lotions, two sunscreens, a lip balm, a bottle of mascara, a full-size skin oil, and a facial toner. What’s more is that I’m expecting to finish another two lotions, a moisturizer, a bottle of foundation, and two lip balms in the next two weeks.
Project Pan has impacted other areas of my life as well. For instance, I haven’t walked into a Sephora or browsed on Ulta’s website in nearly three months. For me, especially as a college student trying to save, removing the temptation of purchasing new products is extremely helpful.
I wake up to my makeup drawer thanking me every day. Despite only participating in Project Pan for a little under two months, I swear that drawer looks more and more empty every day. My space is less cluttered, I don’t have to worry about what products I want to wear that morning, and the feeling of satisfaction when finishing another product truly can’t be beat.
Consider, for a moment, the state of your makeup drawer. Is it packed to the brim with items you couldn’t possibly use? Or do you wish your environmental footprint were smaller? Or do you maybe just want an easy way to save money?
Consider this your official nomination for Project Pan. The best part is that it’s one of the easiest ways to start stepping into a more sustainable future. It’s not too late to join the scores of people (including myself) joining Project Pan!
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest!