Liquid plastics are the much smaller, invisible form of microplastics that are poisoning our oceans every single day via the haircare products that we flush down our plugholes. Shrub, a new liquid plastic-free haircare range, has this month (May 2020) launched the Make The Change, See The Change campaign to educate UK consumers on the harmful effects that liquid plastics inflict on our environment, and in turn, us. Click here to watch our campaign video
Smaller than 1mm in size, liquid plastics pose a much bigger problem than other microplastics as they are impossible to retrieve from our waterways. Unbeknownst to most beauty consumers, they are commonly found in haircare, skincare and bath products to make them more spreadable; then rinsed down our drains which are not only ingested by our marine life, but also us.
According to a study by The University of Newcastle in Australia1 the average human ingests up to 5g of plastic per week — roughly the weight of a credit card. Liquid plastics are, according to research from Codecheck2, found in almost one third of all cosmetic products. 50,000 products, spread across 34 product categories, including face masks, skincare products, shampoos and shower gels were found to contain them. But why aren’t beauty consumers aware of this? And why don’t liquid plastics receive the same level of attention and treatment as solid microplastics?
Covid-19 has forced us all into a “new normal” – one in which we’re asked to maintain a 2 metre distance from anyone outside our household, and has seen 88% of organisations globally ask their employees to work from home for the foreseeable future (according to a report from Facility Executive3). We are all desperate to return to our normal, pre-Coronavirus lives, but what if normal was the problem in the first place?
Since being thrust into a global pandemic in March and forced indoors in order to reduce the spread of a deadly virus, it seems that planet Earth has pressed the reset button. Venice have reported crystal-clear canals4 as a result of a reduction in boat pollution, The European Space Agency shared satellite images showing a reduction in levels of nitrogen dioxide across major European cities and NASA reported a 25% drop in carbon emissions across China5. Evidence that we, and our everyday choices, are the problem.
These unprecedented times are forcing us to look at and change our normal routines. The familiar, hamster-wheel humdrum of our daily lives no longer exists and many of us are acknowledging things we may not have before: how often we change the bin, how quickly our recycling is filled, and which products we purchase again and again.
Shrub is calling for us to use this unfamiliar time wisely and look at the small changes and choices we can all make, so that once we are through this pandemic we don’t undo all of planet Earth’s hard work.
Make the change, see the change. Choose Shrub. Choose liquid plastic-free. Let’s not let #TheNewNormal, go back to normal.
1 https://www.newcastle.edu.au/newsroom/featured/plastic-ingestion-by-people-could-be-equating-to-a-credit-card-a-week
2 https://codecheck-app.com/codecheck-study-the-invisible-danger-hidden-polymers-in-cosmetic-products/
3 https://facilityexecutive.com/2020/03/most-employees-working-from-home-coronavirus-pandemic/
4 https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/03/18/venice-canals-clear-up-due-to-covid-19-lockdown/
5 https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/covid-19-when-the-earth-decided-to-hit-back-1.70798448
