The not so darling buds…
I was brought up with the fear of perforated eardrums so avoid cotton buds, q tips, call them what you will. My husband however gets through boxes of them. He must have the cleanest ears in Yorkshire. So he did not react well when I told him his brand of bud has been banned from our house because the stick is made from plastic.
They may be small but the cotton bud features large on the pollution chart. One major problem is that people use them and then flush them down the loo. Each week an estimated 500,000 plastic sticks are sent down the pan in the Thames Water region alone.
Being small they can squeeze through filters at sewage works and so out into open water. During Beachwatch 2004, they made up 87% of sewage related debris found on our beaches - that’s a staggering 154 buds every km of beach surveyed. In 2006 they were the second most common item of litter washed up on our beaches.
Being plastic they are of course with us for ever. The obvious answer is don’t dispose of them in the toilet. Now in all fairness the husband (though guilty of many bathroom crimes) does not flush his down the loo. But that still leaves the question why make a disposable, one-use item out of something that lasts for centuries? If they don’t go down the loo they still have to be disposed of somehow and plastic is not got rid of easily. I don’t see why clean ears have to mean a dirty environment.
My husband though insists that clean ears are vital to health, and cotton buds are essential for clean ears. So we have compromised. We buy cotton buds with a paper stem - not only are they made from renewable sources, they biodegrade naturally in the compost heap. Biocototige (French company) do them and they can be bought from eBay - www.ebay.co.uk.
Fantastic news…
UK based online company Boobalu sell the bamboo versions pictured above. As she is very plastic aware, she will no doubt recognise your onward plastic free packaging needs! Check out her store for a whole load of plastic free goodness!
Hi, What a fantiastic idea, I have never thought about that before. I have just ordered 2 packets off Ebay and intend to use then right away. Thanks. I have a friend Heidi, who runs flossybots, and she sells online chemical free products and eco products, I’m sure she will be very interested in the cotton buds too.
A lone cotton bud is such a seemingly innocuous item but then when I see half a million a week mentioned for one region the picture changes dramatically.
Like you I don’t use them!
Co-op and Marks & Spencer now do Fairtrade Cotton buds which have paper sticks. These are also obviously made from Fairtrade Cotton.
Fantastic - thanks for that -I am going to post that as new.
There is a brand called Simply Gentle made by http://www.macdonaldandtaylor.com that have paper sticks and are made from organic cotton.
Thanks for that - I will check them out.
@BoobalouEcoLife updated post to include your fantastic product http://t.co/g9Z8hrdLPO
RT @polytheenpam: @BoobalouEcoLife updated post to include your fantastic product http://t.co/g9Z8hrdLPO