The beauty industry has a plastic problem.
As we geeked out on sustainable packaging materials and carbon credits, here's a couple things we learned along the way.
Plastic
The beauty industry has a plastic problem.
77 billion units of plastic beauty packaging are produced every year. And almost all of it ends up in landfills, incinerated into the air or dumped into our oceans. In fact, the number of shampoo bottles thrown out in the United States alone every year could fill 1,164 football fields. Only 9% of plastic created is ever recycled. Why? Plastic can only be downcycled once, so it costs more to recycle it then it can be resold for.
Plastic Outside
Plastic lasts forever.
Well, almost. Plastic takes more than 400 years to break down. So every piece of plastic that's ever been created still exists somewhere. That bottle of shampoo you used in high school? Still around. The bottle your mom used in high school? Same.
Plastic inside
We're becoming plastic people.
Beyond the scary consequences for our planet, there are health implications for us as well. Plastics (including bioplastics) breakdown into microplastics, also known as petrochemical bits. These tiny plastic fragments enter our ecosystem, then our water systems, then our bodies. In recent studies, microplastics were detected in 100% of human organs. It's time to think outside the plastic bottle.
