Saving the oceans with OXUM Cosmetics
Ocean, Skin, and Me
Oceans cover over 70% of the earth’s surface and are the largest and most diverse source of life with more than a million species of marine animals. Oceans represent life as they provide oxygen and food, and allow us to explore an underwater world of natural beauty. However, all of that is increasingly under threat. While many industries are threatening our oceans, the personal care industry is playing a major role in it.
As harmless as they may seem, personal care products from our toothpaste to mask sheets have a negative and lasting impact on oceans. Packaging and ingredients often used in cosmetics find their way into seas and oceans, pollute water and become a threat to marine wildlife. In this post, we’ll dive into the beauty industry’s impact on oceans, how skincare brands are tackling the problem, and what actions we can take as consumers.
The plastic problem
The skincare industry continues to grow annually. But as more cosmetics are released to the market, more packaging is also produced. In 2018 alone, around 100 billion units of cosmetics packages and 22 billion single-use sachets were produced worldwide. Since online shopping has grown so fast in the last few years, these numbers are only increasing.
The main concern regarding cosmetic packaging is the material used for it. Plastic is usually the first choice because it’s lightweight, stable, and comes in all different colors and shapes. The problem is that most of the plastic types used for cosmetics are not truly or fully recyclable and end up in our landfills and our oceans.
Single-use plastic packaging is one of the biggest ways that the beauty industry can harm delicate environments like oceans. Single-use plastics like sheet masks, product samples, and cosmetic wipes are made to be used for a few minutes, but the negative effect on oceans can last for hundreds of years. Because the containers are not bio-degradable, they build up in the oceans contributing to the formation of garbage patches. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the most startling examples of this buildup as it contains over 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic.
There’s no doubt that the skincare and beauty industry is one of the key contributors to the enormous amount of plastic waste that is dumped into our oceans. That’s why conscious beauty brands are making changes to tackle this problem. Choosing recyclable glass jars and replacing conventional plastic with plant-based plastics and other raw materials such as bamboo, wood fiber and cardboard are some of the environment-friendly solutions that companies devise to deliver their products1.
Not only packaging but formula as well
Cleansing products such as shampoos, soaps, and body washes are usually rinse-off products, that need water to function. However, every time we clean our faces or wash our bodies, ingredients are washed down the drain and some of them can impact aquatic environments. After ingredients are discharged down the drain, they reach the water waste treatment plants. But most of the time, ingredients aren’t broken down in treatment plants and make their way to oceans, where they can harm marine life such as algae, fish, and coral reefs. By choosing cosmetic brands that only used natural or synthetically produced ingredients, but in a sustainable and eco-friendly process, rest assured that you’re not contributing to marine water pollution.
Microplastics in cosmetics
Going back to the plastic problem, even beauty product formulas themselves can contain levels of plastics. Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments (less than 5 mm) that are produced as microbeads to be used mainly as exfoliates in beauty products. Moreover, they can also occur from larger plastics breaking down. Regardless of the source, microplastics are harmful to the environment, especially to marine wildlife and oceans.
When these tiny plastic fragments are washed down your sink or shower drain, they enter the marine ecosystem and are mistaken as food and ingested by corals, phytoplanktons, lobsters, fish, and other types of marine animals, becoming harmful to their health. But the problem doesn’t stop there, if we consume fish or lobsters in our diet, microplastics find their way into our digestive tracts and cause health problems, especially in the liver3.
Since 2015, many countries have banned the usage of microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics, including exfoliating skincare products, shower gels, soaps, toothpaste, and face washes. However, despite banning microplastics, they are still a significant problem since they are found hidden in other beauty products. We’re talking about wet wipes, I bet you didn’t know this!
I know that wet wipes are very practical and work for many purposes, such as makeup removers, hand sanitizers, and basically to wipe everything clean, but they play a major role in ocean contamination. A wet wipe is usually made of synthetic fibers such as polyester, polypropylene, rayon, and nylon and these are types of plastic that won’t decompose.
Given that they are small and soft; they can be easily flushed down the drain. This is not the proper way to get rid of a wet wipe because not all of them will be grabbed by water treatment plants as they go through the sewer, and eventually enter the ocean, adding to the pile of plastic wastes already floating there.
But again, the problem doesn’t stop there. Wet wipes are made out of plastic and they persist in the environment for a long time. However, due to their soft nature, they are easily broken down into microfibers. These microfibres are released when wet wipes are immersed in water, which correlates to the disposal of wet wipes through flushing into toilets. The inappropriate disposal of wet wipes in aquatic environments can result in serious damage to marine organisms and, subsequently, to humans.
What it’s most concerning is that recent studies have shown that synthetic microfibers are the most predominant microplastics in the marine environment. Thus, if you are someone that regularly uses wet wipes, I think it’s time for you to look for more sustainable alternatives. Some good options include washable or disposable cotton dry wipes, bamboo wipes that are 100% biodegradable, or foaming washes that can be applied to toilet paper and turn it into a flushable moist wipe4.
Saving the oceans with OXUM Cosmetics
Recently cosmetic brands are making significant changes to innovate and launch products from a conscious perspective, from reformulating products with more sustainable and clean ingredients to opting for greener packaging with low impact on the environment.
As consumers, we can make smart choices and support brands that make their products and packaging eco-sustainable as much as possible. These choices will make a huge difference cumulatively.
In Oxum Cosmetics, we believe we can find a balance between everything we do. As an Australian eco-professional skincare brand, we have a strong connection to nature. We receive but we give back. When we are developing a product, we carefully choose the best natural ingredients, both for the formula and the packaging, that will be consciously sourced and sustainable over time. The result? Paraben-free, sulfate-free, no animal tested, and no artificial fragrances skincare products that meet the highest standards and have a minimal impact on nature and oceans.
Our efforts to give back to nature don’t stop there. Because our name, Oxum, comes from a river goddess that is typically associated with water and life, we are a beauty brand committed to the ocean. In fact, saving the ocean is woven into our DNA and that’s why we donate 50% of our profits to The Ocean Cleanup Company.
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization of engineers, researchers, scientists, and supporting roles, working daily to save the world's oceans. They are developing and scaling technologies to remove plastics from the five enormous garbage patches where plastic has accumulated, with the aim of getting as much out as possible before it turns into microplastics.
In Oxum, we believe this partnership is the way to actively support our oceans and marine life while allowing us to be part of something that has a good impact on nature and humanity. By shopping and using our products, you can also become part of this movement.
Whether it’s consuming mindfully, buying from beauty brands committed to sustainability, or sharing information concerning the impact of cosmetics on nature, consumers need to find a way to support sustainability in the beauty industry. So, the next time you buy a moisturizer, facial cleanser, or shampoo from your favorite brand, think about the impact that product will leave on the environment and whether you need to consider more sustainable alternatives.
References:
1. Aguiar, J. B., Martins, A. M., Almeida, C., Ribeiro, H. M. & Marto, J. Water sustainability: A waterless life cycle for cosmetic products. Sustain. Prod. Consum. 32, 35–51 (2022).
2. Bom, S., Jorge, J., Ribeiro, H. M. & Marto, J. A step forward on sustainability in the cosmetics industry: A review. J. Clean. Prod. 225, 270–290 (2019).
3. Everaert, G. et al. Risks of floating microplastic in the global ocean. Environ. Pollut. 267, (2020).
4. Zhang, Y., Wen, Z., Hu, Y. & Zhang, T. Waste flow of wet wipes and decision-making mechanism for consumers’ discarding behaviors. J. Clean. Prod. 364, (2022).