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The traditional beauty industry is far from clean. Quite the opposite actually: a better way to describe it would be … dirty. It’s honestly no surprise that clean beauty has taken the world by storm these past few years (personally, I would rather avoid smearing myself with stuff like petroleum on a daily basis). Some of the ingredients to watch out for - other than petroleum - are formaldehyde,polyethylene glycols (PGE compounds), or diethanolamine (DEA), all of which have been linked to various types of cancer. These toxic chemicals hiding in our cosmetics are way more common than you’d think - for example parabens (which cause hormone disruption) are found in 70% of cosmetics.
Today, consumers are asking more from their favourite cosmetics brands (and rightly so!) when it comes to safer ingredients but also concerning more thoughtful packaging. Zero waste cosmetics of course refer to the packaging our product comes in. The obvious answer is just make the packaging recyclable … right? Well, actually, it’s not that simple. When you think about it, skincare and makeup products come in bottles or palettes made from several materials: we have the glass bottle, the plastic pump, the metal cap… To recycle your empty bottle properly, you’d have to separate all the materials - which, sadly, most people aren’t doing. Recycling in itself is pretty misleading - only approximately 9% of what we put in our recycling bin actually gets recycled, with a staggering 91% ending up in landfills anyway.
So if you’re looking for zero waste makeup, both of these brands are doing a great job battling a plastic-filled, conventional beauty industry.
Plus
Plus is a no-bottle body wash (hance making it plastic free!). Essentially, the brand has created single-use body wash packets minus the cons of single-use plastic that comes from the packaging. The sachets the soap comes in are dissolvable and disappear down your drain! They also sell soap dispensers which are made mainly from post-consumer recycled plastic to really get rid of single-use plastic once and for all (reusing is better than recycling!). So not only does this produce 80% less CO2 emissions and needs 38% less water to produce than your average soap, it also saves you from making the trip to the bin - and looks cool while doing it. On top of that, they have a wide range of yummy scents, from citrus paired with neroli all the way to coconut and jasmine.
Go check them out at https://cleanwith.plus
Biom
Another cool brand related to the cosmetics industry to check out would be Biom. They’ve created completely plant-based, biodegradable wipes which, as they put it, are better both for us and the planet. It’s common knowledge that wipes are terrible for the environment, but personally, I didn’t know how bad. Turns out, a large amount of cotton pads are treated with synthetic fibers to keep their shape, meaning they contain plastic. And wipes being a form of glorified cotton pad … are therefore also made with plastic. All this creates billions of pounds of plastic waste per year … yikes. Biom has successfully created a wipe which is made of 100% natural ingredients and as a bonus, comes in the most beautiful wipe dispenser! They are currently moving towards making these dispensers out of recycled ocean plastic, a project which will hopefully become a reality.
Go check them out at https://getbiom.co
So, the bottom line is that the best we can do for our skin and our planet is to get to know a brand - both its ingredients and its packaging! Knowledge really is power I guess… Packaging is unavoidable but some brands do it better than others!
If you want to browse more green cosmetic brands which align with this philosophy, you can always browse through them here!
