Have you noticed that everything’s getting a bit . . . sparkly? Glitter, long a staple of children’s arts and crafts, is now a trend for adults.
You can scatter it on your hair and even wear it in a face mask.
It might not be the most sophisticated craze, but what’s wrong with a bit of harmless fun, you might think?
Well, experts say glitter is far from harmless: it may be polluting the environment, harming our eyes and skin and causing problems around the world. All that frivolous glitter could be doing serious damage.
IT CAN’T BE RECYCLED
Glitter is made from tiny pieces of plastic — making it as bad for the environment as the toxic microbeads that have been banned from cosmetics.
Typically, it consists of a layer of plastic, a thin coloured layer and a reflective layer — often made of aluminium. These are bonded into a thin sheet, then cut into tiny shapes.
Scientists from around the world shared the dangers they believe impact our health and the environment caused by glitter (file image)
These pieces can’t be recycled because it’s difficult to break them down into component parts. They’re also so small that they clog machinery, meaning if you try to recycle paper with glitter on it, the whole lot might have to be chucked — truckloads of recycling were thrown out in the UK over Christmas.
Many scientists are convinced it’s time for urgent action.
Dr Trisia Farrelly, an environmentalist from New Zealand’s Massey University, says: ‘I think all glitter should be banned. Producers should not get away with making a profit out of the production of disposable, single-use plastics, while bearing little responsibility for the damage.’
PLASTIC POLLUTION
Recently, a nursery group in England banned its 2,500 children from using glitter, with experts warning that, as it’s so hard to tidy up all those tiny pieces, they are likely to end up in the environment.
Glitter particles either end up in landfill or washed down your drains. If that happens, glitter is small enough to be washed into rivers and seas. There, the particles can absorb chemicals and pollutants, making them ever more toxic. And every tiny sparkly bit will take thousands of years to break down.
Like other microplastics, they may be consumed by plankton, which are eaten by fish — meaning they enter the food chain and could end up back on your dinner plate. There’s no way to keep glitter out of the food we eat. Alarming levels of microplastic contamination have also been found in tap water.
‘We don’t know the health impact, so it’s important we put enough effort into finding out the risks,’ says Dr Anne Marie Mahon, of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, who led last year’s tap water study.
AIRBORNE MENACE
food isn’t the only way glitter could get in your system. Frank Kelly, a professor of environmental health at King’s College London, fears we are inhaling microparticles including glitter.
‘They could deliver chemicals to the lower parts of our lungs and maybe even into our bloodstream,’ he says.
Lush and ASOS have begun selling products which use cellulose from eucalyptus trees as an alternative to glitter (file image)
This could be just as damaging as inhaling car fumes, he warns — and, when it comes to glitter, children and young people are most likely to be affected.
DAMAGED EYESIGHT
While glitter can add a sparkle to your skin, it really shouldn’t get anywhere near your eyes. Those tiny flecks can have incredibly sharp edges.
Cosmetic-grade glitter should have rounded edges, so it won’t usually cause serious problems.
But craft glitter is a different story. The British Medical Journal has urged doctors to look out for patients complaining of swollen eyes and vision loss after a 49-year-old woman was almost blinded by glitter.
She went to hospital after glitter rubbed off a Christmas card into her eye. It had formed into a clump, causing a lesion.
MINING SCANDAL
The outcry over plastic has led companies to tout natural alternatives to glitter.
Mica is a sparkly mineral that has been mined for more than 700 years and crops up in everything from eyeshadow to paint.
But there have been reports that the shimmer in mica comes at a heavy price for workers. Studies found children were exploited to mine it in India.
Although companies are trying to enforce minimum standards, an estimated 20,000 children are believed to be in illegal mines.
An ITV investigation found children as young as six smashing rocks in hideously unsafe conditions. It is believed ten die in the mines each month.
SAFER SPARKLES
So, how can you and your children enjoy the sparkly stuff without harming yourself — or the environment?
One option is synthetic mica, made from a substance called fluorphlogopite. Cosmetics company Lush uses this instead of plastic or natural mica.
If it’s craft sparkles you’re after, there’s ‘bio-glitter’ made out of cellulose from eucalyptus trees.
The film is compostable, with a thin layer of aluminium added to some colours to give it sparkle. It’s safe to stick to your skin with organic aloe vera gel, rather than a chemical glue. Noemi Lamanna, who developed it, says: ‘Discovering that glitter was plastic was heart-breaking. So I decided to do something about it.’ (It’s available at ecoglitterfun.com).
Online fashion giant Asos also sells glitter made from eucalyptus trees.
EcoStardust glitter is made from sustainably farmed groves and degrades quickly in warm, moist environments such as rubbish bins or landfill, while 10 per cent of profits go to charity (ecostardust.com).