Anybody remember the first Earth Day? It was April 22, 1970, and millions of Americans came together to march for environmental reforms. This event marked the beginning of our modern environmental movement, leading to the creation of the Environmental Protection Act, quickly followed by the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act. Good work, citizens! 

This year’s Earth Day’s mission: End Plastic Pollution. Earth Day Network (EDN) has outlined several goals to this campaign, including “ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100 percent recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behavior concerning plastics.”

It’s not hard to understand why. According to EDN, “About 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year to make bags, bottles, packages, and other commodities for people all over the world, but only about ten percent of this plastic is properly recycled and reused.”

The results are disturbing and alarming: not only do plastics poison and injure marine life, there’s evidence that shows the presence of plastics in our food and personal care products can disrupt human hormones, cause early puberty or trigger a life-threatening disease. ***

You might be thinking “sure, fine, but what does this have to do with my skin care?”

Well, a big problem in the cosmetic industry has been the use of microbeads in products, such as facewash, exfoliates, lip gloss and “age-defying” makeup. Microbeads are tiny pieces of manufactured plastic; the problem is that “these tiny pieces of plastic used in personal care products are designed to go down the drain and into our lakes, rivers, and oceans — by the billions every day. They absorb toxins in the water, are eaten by marine life and can make their way up the food chain all the way to our dinner plates.”

Here’s some good news. The Story of Stuff Project waged a major campaign to ban microbeads in the whole United States in 2015 – and won! As of 2017, it’s illegal to sell products with microbeads in the U.S. – a great start. Just goes to show we can take action to reduce our plastic waste!

We are proud that our products have never contained a single microbead and have always come in recyclable glass jars and bottles! The exfoliates in our lip scrub come from organic sugar and organic chamomile powder. Not to mention, we follow a strict recycling/composting program in the office. We founded our company with a clean, green philosophy and we’re always looking for solutions we can adopt that are good for our customers as well as the planet. 

You can join the club: Make a pledge this year to reduce your use of plastic. The Earth Day Network has a super informative booklet and toolkit that is chockfull of information on why plastic is such a dangerous problem, with tips on how to “Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Remove” in your own life. Plus, links to Ted Talks, (including one about the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”), videos, personal stories, and a personal plastic worksheet to help reduce your consumption and more. 

If you do nothing else this Earth Day, download and read this amazing document. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to do your part to End Plastic Pollution. Show our Earth some Love! 

***Curious to know if your products contain any microbeads? Check for the following: poly-ethylene plastic polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or nylon.)    

Resources: 

https://www.earthday.org/earthday/

https://storyofstuff.org/