This is a fantastic article about the huge cumulative impact plastics are having in our environment. When I first read about the existence of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Gyre (a sea of floating plastic twice the size of Texas) I knew we had to start making serious changes.
Something that shocked me to read in this article: many body scrubs and other cosmetics are filled with teeny little beads of plastic that are meant to be washed down the drain into our rivers and oceans.
Exfoliants: little granules that massage you as you bathe.” He selects a peach-colored tube of St. Ives Apricot Scrub; its label reads: 100% natural exfoliants. “This stuff is okay. The granules are actually chunks of ground-up jojoba seeds and walnut shells.” Other natural brands use grape seeds, apricot hulls, coarse sugar, or sea salt. “The rest of them,” he says, with a sweep of his hand, “have all gone to plastic.
Of course, even with the natural apricot scrub there’s still the plastic tube to contend with. Next time I get tempted to buy a body scrub product, instead I’ll mix up my own scrub. If you have any non-natural scrubs hanging around the house, you may want to even consider throwing them in the solid waste unused rather than washing them down the drain into the water system.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
[...] already finding that out in the Pacific Ocean where the plastic is gathering into a giant swirling garbage patch. The trees of Canada and the sand of the Sahara can only hide so much [...]
April 6th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
[...] already finding that out in the Pacific Ocean where the plastic is gathering into a giant swirling garbage patch. The trees of Canada and the sand of the Sahara can only hide so much [...]
April 6th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
[...] already finding that out in the Pacific Ocean where the plastic is gathering into a giant swirling garbage patch. The trees of Canada and the sand of the Sahara can only hide so much [...]