Highlights:
Environmental Challenges of Traditional Glitter: Traditional glitter, with its microplastic content, poses significant environmental challenges, persisting in aquatic ecosystems for millennia.
Biodegradable Glitter Innovations: Companies are actively exploring biodegradable glitter options, typically made from materials like plant-based cellulose or synthetic mica.
Debate Over Eco-Friendliness: While biodegradable glitter offers promise in reducing environmental harm, studies suggest that it may still pose risks to ecosystems.
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Glitter holds a timeless place in childhood crafting, celebration adornments, and cosmetic applications. Yet, its irresistible charm often evokes the image of a magpie on an overly sweet spree. Traditional glitter poses a significant environmental challenge due to its microplastic content, which persists in aquatic ecosystems for millennia. In addressing this concern, companies are actively exploring methods to develop biodegradable glitter that reduce their environmental footprint. Yet, the question arises: is this truly eco-friendly or merely a form of sparkly greenwashing?
Exploring the Environmental Impact of Biodegradable Glitter
Most biodegradable glitters on the market degrade more readily than traditional plastic glitters. The ingredients often contain materials like plant-based cellulose or synthetic mica. The rate of degradation can vary depending on factors such as the specific composition of the glitter, environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity), and the presence of microorganisms that aid in decomposition. Companies often produce eco-friendly glitter using sustainable manufacturing processes and renewable energy sources to further reduce their environmental footprint.
Evidence Against Using Biodegradable Glitter
The innovation of biodegradeable glitter is not as sparkly as it appears on the surface. A study conducted by Ecologist Dr. Dannielle Green at the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge in 2021 examined the effects of glitter on freshwater environments within a laboratory setting. Their findings highlighted significant repercussions of glitter pollution on aquatic life. For example, duckweed root length halved, chlorophyll levels dropped threefold, and eco-glitter caused as much damage as regular glitter, even promoting invasive species growth.
Despite being derived mainly from eucalyptus trees, biodegradable glitter still contained a plastic coating. Surprisingly, pollution from these eco-friendly glitter alternatives proved equally harmful to freshwater ecosystems. Environments contaminated with these glitters also showed a doubling in the population of New Zealand mud snails, an invasive species commonly found in polluted waters. The researchers suspected leachate from the glitters, possibly due to their plastic coatings or other production materials, as the cause.
Evidence Supporting Biodegradable Glitter
Unfortunately, since 2021, there is little research focused on the biodegradability of glitter to support or challenge this study. However, a team at University of Cambridge believe they found an answer to the ‘glitter litter’ issue. In a study published in Nature Materials in 2021, they developed a cellulose based product, which they believed was not polluting to aquatic systems. The researchers transformed large-scale cellulose films into biodegradable, non-toxic particles. These were suitable for making glitters or effect pigments.
The researchers asserted that this eco-friendly approach is less energy-intensive than conventional methods, which often rely on harmful substances like titanium dioxide and mica. The aforementioned substances are associated with health risks and exploitative practices like child labour. Additionally, researchers emphasized the environmental toll of traditional methods, noting their high energy requirements. The Cambridge team see this product as a potential game-changer in the cosmetics industry. It will offer a completely sustainable, biodegradable, and vegan option for pigments and glitter.
While research into the environmental safety of biodegradable glitter remains limited, the development and adoption of biodegradable glitter on the marketplace has continued to grow in response to increasing environmental concerns. Biodegradable glitter appears to offer a preferable alternative to traditional glitter for those inclined to use it. However, further research is crucial to fully understand its biodegradability and environmental impact.
