Dear Humans,
Before, I shared with all of you about how the consumption and production of beauty products has led to detrimental effects in pollution. But, the most horrifying news is that even as you throw your beauty product away, it continues to pollute the environment. Today, I will be sharing about the pollution caused by the end-of-life of your beauty product.
In 2008, the cosmetic industry generated about 120.8 billion units of packaging (England, 2010). 40% of the total amount of waste consists of plastic waste, which is not biodegradable. Apart from cosmetics and beauty products, grooming and personal care products also pose a huge environmental headache. 23,000 tonnes of toothbrushes and 2 billion razors end up in the landfill each year (England, 2010). Since these are personal grooming tools that have to be disposed of after a few months, it easily generates a huge amount of waste in the landfills.
(Source, Thompson, 2018)
Why is it so bad?
The plastics from cosmetic waste accumulated in the landfills will stay and leach toxic substances to the surrounding soil and land. Chlorinated plastic can release very harmful chemicals into the soil (UNEnvironment, n.d.). These chemicals can seep into the groundwater or other surrounding sources, which will harm organisms that drink the water. At the decomposition stage of the plastic, additives such as phthalates and Bisophenol A leach out of the plastic particles (UNEnvironment, n.d.). To make matters worse, these additives can cross highly selective membranes which can trigger gene expression and biochemical reactions.
Can you recall the post about microbeads and microplastics? When you wash your face with a cleanser or moisturizer, microplastics are washed down together with the water used. These microplastics not only escape to the ocean, but also form a part of your sewage. Sewage serves as an important factor in the distribution of microplastics. Since sewage sludge is often used in fields as fertilizer, tons of microbeads end up in our soils every year. This even affects fauna and organisms negatively. For instance, earthworms build their burrows differently in the presence of microplastics, which affects the fitness of the earthworm and the soil condition (Berlin, 2018).
How does it affect YOU directly?
You may think, how does this even affect me? So what if the earthworms have a harder time? Now, let me break to you the bad news. There is an increasing amount of microplastics detected in YOUR food due to the accumulation of microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems. They have been detected in incredibly common foods such as salt, sugar and beer (Berlin, 2018). Researchers have speculated that this was due to the widespread reality of accumulation of plastics in the terrestrial environment (Berlin, 2018).
Hence, pollution does not end the moment the beauty product is thrown away. In fact, it contributes to pollution of the environment more than ever. In this post, you’ll realise the detrimental effects caused by the soil pollution by microplastics and how you’re ingesting these harmful chemicals. Want to know the alternatives and how to help minimise waste from beauty products? Stay tuned!
Cheery vibes,
Mother Nature
References:
An underestimated threat: Land-based pollution with microplastics. (2018, February 05). Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180205125728.htm
Thompson, A. (2018, November 12). Solving Microplastic Pollution Means Reducing, Recycling-and Fundamental Rethinking. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solving-microplastic-pollution-means-reducing-recycling-mdash-and-fundamental-rethinking1/
UN Environment. (n.d.). Plastic planet: How tiny plastic particles are polluting our soil. Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/plastic-planet-how-tiny-plastic-particles-are-polluting-our-soil
Wasted beauty: Packaging in the cosmetics industry. (2010, November 16). Retrieved October 14, 2020, from https://resource.co/article/Packaging/Wasted_beauty_Packaging_cosmetics_industry