How to use less plastic in your beauty regime

The microbead ban is only the first step on a crusade to make our bathroom shelf more planet-friendly. Here’s what you need to know about THE hot topic in beauty...
Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you’ll know that ours is being suffocated by plastic. More than five trillion pieces of microplastic are currently in our oceans, and an entire rubbish truck’s worth is dumped in the sea every minute.

It’s long overdue but the world is finally waking up to the plastic peril and taking practical action, from the 5p carrier bag charge to the impending coffee cup tax.

Changes are afoot in the beauty industry too, starting with the UK ban on microbeads, the tiny plastic exfoliators that go from your sink into the sea and get ingested by marine life.

Here are some of the steps you can take to reduce your own plastic usage.

Get rid of microbeads safelyThe ban on microbeads is a hugely positive step, says Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, a group campaigning for plastic-free aisles in supermarkets. The first of its kind has just opened in the Netherlands.

‘If you have products containing microbeads, the best way to dispose of them is to put them in your general waste,' says Sian. 'They’ll probably go into landfill, but that’s the lesser of the evils. If you put them into the recycling bin, they’ll potentially get washed out at the plant and the beads will still go into the water system.’

To recognise which products contain microbeads, look for polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, polylactic acid or nylon in ingredients lists.

Reduce your plastic footprint

● Ditch plastic disposable razors for refillable metal razors.

● Swap liquid soaps for bars.

● Switch throw-away wipes, cotton buds and cotton pads for washable cleaning cloths, like CloudCloth (£8 for three).

● Avoid products with (non-biodegradable) glitter, another source of plastic that gets into the water system. There are alternative eco-glitters, like the synthetic mica used by Lush.

● Get everything out of products in tubes by cutting them open (scoop the remnants into reusable glass jars), or by getting the last bits out of cosmetics with a make-up brush.

Rethink packaging

It’s good to look for plastic bottles labelled as recyclable, but bear in mind it doesn’t mean they’ve actually been recycled already.

‘Only a small percentage of plastic gets reused,’ says Sian. (Make sure you do your bit by putting plastic in recycling bins whenever you can.)

Be savvy about bottles that claim to use recycled materials, says Sian. ‘The question to ask is “how much?” It can be a meaningless marketing claim, like brands who put “organic” on the label but only actually use a tiny percentage.’

Companies are developing eco alternatives to plastic bottles - for instance a shampoo bottle that’s 3-D printed using algae is at the prototype stage - but for now Sian urges people to buy more products packaged in glass or metal.

‘You’ll know your product is in a safe material that’s already been heavily recycled,’ she says.