Cost of taking action: £/$/€ NIL
Please switch to a sustainable alternative to single use disposable make up wipes
This is another simple change that can add up if enough people take action.
Single use make up wipes often contain plastic, are manufactured using a cocktail of chemicals and bleach, and are non-recyclable. Sadly, they are also often lazily flushed away down our sewers, which are not designed to cope with them. They are also unnecessary because reusable wipes can easily be used instead.
Switching to reusable will:
- reduce cotton, plastic and chemical consumption
- avoid the clogging of our waste water systems
- reduce microplastic plastic waste entering landfill and water systems
- reduce impact on our wildlife from plastic pollution
- avoid microplastics entering the food chain
- reduce your costs
Disposable cotton pads are terrible for our environment; the biggest issues with cotton pads come from the use of chemicals (especially pesticides), the consumption of water and the removal of wildlife habitats to make way for agricultural land to grow cotton. Also, disposable cotton pads come wrapped in single-use plastic packaging.
Typical reusable pads are made from a mixture of cotton and bamboo fibres with no plastic and are easily washed in a mesh bag in the washing machine. A good brand will also come in non-plastic packaging such as recyclable or compostable card.
An example of a brand that does this is EcoVibe.
Please note that we have no connection to EcoVibe and this link is provided merely an example.
The important thing, like so many of our actions, is that this might seem a small measure to take, but multiplied across millions of consumers can make a real difference.