In honor of Earth Day, nonprofit organization Recycle Across America (RAA) is partnering with Kiehl’s Since 1851 (Kiehl’s) to donate 65,000 of the new society-wide standardized labels for recycling bins to 650 K-12 schools across the United States.

The easy-to-understand standardized labels increase recycling levels and improve the quality of the recyclable materials being collected in bins, thereby transforming the public’s recycling experience to expedite environmental progress.

Kiehl’s, a New York-based leader in fine quality skin and hair care, has been an ongoing supporter of the cause for four years and to date has raised $250,000 for RAA. It has supplied hundreds of thousands of free standardized recycling labels to school districts in San Diego, Houston, Scottsdale, Culver City, and an additional 2,500 independent schools throughout the U.S. According to the company, recycling levels have doubled in many of these schools and the cost of some school districts’ trash hauling fees has been reduced by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The funding for this year’s donation from Kiehl’s will be raised from the Limited Edition Label Art series, featuring art by this year’s Friends of Kiehl’s celebrity contributors, Elizabeth Olsen (“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Godzilla”) and Maggie Q (“Divergent,” “Stalker,” “Nikita”).

At a special event last week attended by Olsen, Q, and other entertainment industry luminaries such as Dylan McDermott (“Stalker”), Taryn Manning (“Orange is the New Black”), George Newbern (“Scandal”), Elvis Nolasco (“American Crime”), Lamorne Morris (“New Girl”), Miss J Alexander (“America’s Next Top Model”), Vanessa Marcil (“General Hospital”), Teddy Shears (“Masters of Sex”), Jay Ellis (“The Game”), Robert Buckley (“iZombie”), Charlotte Ross (“Arrow”) and others at the Kiehl’s Santa Monica location, Kiehl’s announced that net profits from the Limited Edition Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado series will benefit RAA for this special campaign.

At the event, Mitch Hedlund, executive director of RAA, explained how recycling can help the environment when it is done properly. Conversely, there are millions of tons of garbage thrown into recycling bins every day as a result of public confusion from historically inconsistent and confusing labels on recycling bins.

The excessive contamination in recycling bins is caused by confusion at the bin, and this cripples the economics of recycling while preventing many companies from choosing recycled materials for use in their manufacturing. Without proper recycling and reuse of recyclables, otherwise valuable materials are increasingly plaguing waterways, oceans and sea life.

“With worldwide waste expected to double by 2025, it’s more important than ever that we begin making recycling economically viable and as simple a process as possible,” says Hedlund. “We need to make sure that recyclable materials are no longer considered ‘waste’ and are no longer ending up in landfills and waterways. The way to achieve this is to help the general public begin to recycle properly. Standardized labeling is a practical and proven-to-be-successful step toward solving this problem.”

RAA and corporate partners like Kiehl’s have contributed to the nearly 750,000 standardized labels on recycling bins throughout the U.S.

“We started working with Recycle Across America in 2012 and have continued with them since,” explains Chris Salgardo, president, Kiehl’s USA. “Their mission to introduce solutions that make recycling more simple, comprehensive and effective in the United States is perfectly aligned with our ‘Recycle & Be Rewarded’ program. Since 2009, Kiehl’s has collected 2,500,000 empty Kiehl’s bottles from our shoppers and recycled them on their behalf while also rewarding them with free products. It’s proven that by simplifying the process, we can truly create change. We hope to reach over 3,000,000 this year.”

“We are thrilled to once again be partnering with our dear friends at Kiehl’s,” adds Hedlund. “They approached us in our first year and have been a phenomenal partner ever since. If it weren’t for Kiehl’s we wouldn’t have had such an easy path to engage celebrities in our ‘Let’s recycle right!’ campaign, and those celebrity-led public service ads have already attracted other leading global brands to get on board with this solution. Kiehl’s clearly understands the importance of recycling right and has taken a true leadership role in helping advance the solution.”