Preventing a Plastic Planet

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At Love to b skincare the poignant subject of plastic-free is never far from our hearts, thoughts and conversation, both at our skincare kitchen and at our flagship store in Ringwood. We are very aware that the beauty industry is a major contributor to the increasing mountain of plastic on the planet.

 

As media coverage for a plastic-free world has gained momentum, mainly attributed to people such as natural history broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and climate activist Greta Thunberg, there has been a positive step-change within our communities and governments towards becoming plastic-free. Click here to watch David Attenborough’s plastic message.

 

 

I remember watching the award-winning Blue Planet films and being mesmerised by the spectacular beauty of the world we live in. I was surprised to learn that every piece of plastic that has been made since the 1950’s still exists. So, like most people wanting to make a difference to our planet, I began making small, simple changes at home and stopped buying single use plastic as much as possible. This led me to wonder what we could and should do at ‘Love to b’ to become a plastic free company?

I began by studying environmental issues: ironically, plastics were first invented over a hundred years ago to solve the demand for items made from materials from the natural world eg: billiard balls made from elephant tusks.  Plastics are made from fossil fuels – coal, natural gas and crude oil. These are toxic materials, and plastic tends to leach out these toxins, getting into the food chain and ending up in the bloodstream of nearly all of us. Sadly, mass, daily exposure to these toxins has also been linked to cancer, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments. Plastics may have been invented for our convenience but they are seriously bad for our health and the health of our planet.

Why is plastic bad for our planet?

Let’s start with the most obvious statistic: Greenpeace estimates that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into our beautiful oceans each year. To put that in terms we can understand, that is the equivalent weight of around 2,400,000 average size elephants! The impact this has on our oceans is immense, the most visual impacts are the digestion and suffocation of marine animals and other species.

Beauty industry shame!

Two of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution are the fishing and beauty industries.  Single use plastic packaging, microplastics in face washes and exfoliants have had such a devastating impact on marine and wildlife. This doesn’t just affect bigger animals, it also has an effect on micro-organisms; microplastics have rough pitted surfaces which allows waterborne chemicals from industry and agriculture to stick to the microplastics and make them toxic poison pills that plankton and fish mistake for food, which sadly kills most species.

An alarming recent statistic from Greenpeace, is that ’90% of all seabirds worldwide have consumed plastic in their lifetime’. This is a sad and scary statistic that puts into perspective the amount of material in the ocean that doesn’t belong there. Therefore, it’s so important to of our waterways and oceans use alternative sustainable, natural materials, to help keep plastics out of our waterways and oceans.

 

Several years ago, I decided to start with small changes at home to reduce the amount of plastic, we stopped buying bottled shampoo and conditioner. This coincided with us making our very first solid bar of 100% natural Mint & Rosemary Shampoo.  So pleased we made this change, many more followed.

So, what can we do, individually, in our homes, in our companies and within our communities?  In a future blog, we will be outlining our company’s environmental beliefs that run through our very core, along with our strategy to help with preserving the future of our precious planet for our children.

 

Start small, start real and keep your eye on the prize….. plastic free living!

 

With love…

 

Jules x