Glitter Is The Latest Global Hazard
- Parents Only
If you are not a lover of craft and/or have young children, you may already feel strongly about the tiny, twinkly, tenacious substance that is glitter.
It can look amazing applied to your child’s art project, and is even the latest hot trend in makeup, but one small slip and that stuff will be in your carpet for years. Not to mention on your clothes, in your hair, through your… you get the idea.
While many parents may have already decreed a household ban on glitter purely on these grounds, scientists are now actually pushing for a global ban for a much more sinister reason.
Your Glitter Becomes Global Glitter
It turns out that seemingly innocent glitter can actually have a devastating environmental impact.
Classified as a microplastic (a plastic substance less than five millimetres in length), glitter gets easily washed into our waterways. This can result in devastating effects on marine life as the small particles are easily consumed by creatures such as fish, shellfish, plankton, birds and other marine life. It truly is a bitter pill for these unsuspecting diners to swallow, potentially leading to starvation and death.
Other microplastics such as microbeads found in cosmetics pose the same (if not worse) threat and there is a major movement from scientists and environmentalists pushing to ban them from consumer products.
Nature-Friendly Sparkles
While there is no hard evidence how much glitter actually ends up in waterways, the movement to eliminate it has been growing over the last few years. Nations such as Britain and New Zealand already have widespread glitter bans in preschools and schools.
However, glitter lovers need not despair, there are natural alternatives which are gaining in popularity and availability. Environmentally conscious companies such as Lush are replacing all plastic-based glitter in their products and you can even purchase biodegradable glitter makeup (there is a great round up of products available in Oz here.)
So if you are into sparkles, be sure to choose wisely next time you shop. After all, nature is sparkly enough already.
Needs Some Glitter-Free Craft Inspo? Check Out These Ideas:
- Make Your Own Playdough: The BEST Recipe Ever!
- Easy Paper Crafts To Make With Kids
- Make Your Own Stretchy, Edible Chocolate Slime!
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