When we talk about beauty products, we often think about all the bottled products sitting on our vanity desk. However, we often overlooked the use of cotton pads which is an essential aspect of your beauty routine. Admittedly, each time I remove my makeup, I am guilty of using 3-4 pieces of cotton pads. On average, a woman uses 3 cotton pads per day which amounts to approximately 1000 per year.

Many cotton pads are also not 100% cotton. They can be either totally synthetic or mixed with plastics to lower their cost. While overlooked, the use of synthetic cotton pads poses a risk to soil pollution. The mass production of cotton involves large amounts of chemicals in terms of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, and fertiliser. Some of these may break down quickly when applied to soils, while others may persist for longer periods. Specifically, pesticides can damage soil biomass and microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and earthworms that are a part of the soil ecosystem (Pal et al., 2006). Where soil biodiversity decline occurs, it can significantly affect the soils’ ability to function, respond to perturbations and recover from a disturbance (Tibbett et al., 2020).

Given the intricate links of our environment, the pollutive impacts of cotton farming are not just limited to the pedosphere. Runoff of these artificial inputs from cotton fields contaminates nearby surface waters as well as underground aquifers. These pollutants affect biodiversity directly by immediate toxicity or indirectly through bioaccumulation.

In seeking alternatives, you can look for the Soil Association label on your cotton pads which signifies that 70% of its ingredients are organic and thus grown without the use of synthetic chemicals (Soil Association, n.d.). Alternatively, you can opt for reusable cotton pads that can be good for over 1000 uses.

 

References

Pal, R., Chakrabarti, K., Chakraborty, A., & Chowdhury, A. (2006). Degradation and effects of pesticides on soil microbiological parameters-a review. International Journal of Agricultural Research, 1(3), 240–258. https://doi.org/10.3923/ijar.2006.240.258

Soil Association. (n.d.). Using the organic symbol | food & drink | soil association certification. Retrieved 20 March 2022, from https://www.soilassociation.org/certification/food-drink/business-support/marketing-organic/using-the-organic-symbol/

Tibbett, M., Fraser, T. D., & Duddigan, S. (2020). Identifying potential threats to soil biodiversity. PeerJ, 8, e9271. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9271