Glitter alert! Scientists call for ban to save oceans

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What would Christmas be without baubles, tinsel and glittery ornaments on the tree? Not much. But if scientists had their way however, this is how it might have to be.

“I think all glitter should be banned, because it’s microplastic,” Trisia Farrelly, an environmental anthropologist at New Zealand’s Massey University, recently told UK newspaper The Independent.

Glitter is made of aluminium and PET – two materials that do not degrade fast. And anyone who has ever used glitter or been around a children’s party knows that it is nearly impossible to get rid of and will turn up in the most unexpected places months later.

Park-goers walk past the 15-foot Christmas tree made of 15,000 recycled plastic bottles as part of the Christmas decorations at the Manila Ocean Park in Metro Manila, the Philippines, November 28, 2017. /Reuters Photo

When it spreads into the environment however, it is eaten up by fish and other marine wildlife. And in the long run, toxic chemicals may even make their way back onto our plates and into our systems, Farrelly warned.

Plastic threat

A study cited by the UN Environmental Program last year found that a quarter of all fish and a third of all shellfish tested at markets in the US and Indonesia contained traces of plastic debris and fibers.

More than eight million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans every year, killing one million seabirds and over 100,000 marine mammals, according to the UN.

By 2050, the oceans will carry more plastic than fish, it predicted.

A man sells fish at a market at Pescadores beach in the Chorrillos district of Lima, Peru, November 29, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Awareness of the dangers of plastic bags, which trap or suffocate dolphins and turtles when they land in the ocean, is one of the reasons supermarkets around the world began scaling back on free shopping bags, providing reusable or recyclable ones instead.

But even tiny doses of plastic wreak havoc on the environment: Microplastics like glitter are pieces that are no bigger than five millimeters.

Cleaning up beaches

Already, microbeads have been partially banned in the US and further bans are expected in the UK and New Zealand next year. These are the tiny synthetic beads, no larger than one millimeter, that can commonly be found in shower gels, toothpastes and other cosmetics.

Now a chain of British nurseries, Tops Day Nurseries, has announced it will stop using glitter for arts and crafts, arguing it is “virtually impossible to remove from the environment once there.”

Unrecyclable and hard to tidy up, glitter sticks to hands, clothes and shoes, and inevitably makes its way into the water system – through the sink or the washing machine.

VCG Photo.

During a recent beach clean-up in Western Australia, volunteers found a two-square-meter pile of glitter, Australia’s ABC News reported.

Glitter policy needed

For those who still need that little bit of sparkle, more environmentally-friendly sounding options might not help.

“Biodegradable glitter does NOT biodegrade away from the sun and oxygen, so in the sea or water it will more than likely be there forever unless a sea creature eats it, so don’t be fooled into buying biodegradable glitter either,” Tops Days Nurseries warned on its website as it announced its decision to go glitter-free.

Customers look at Christmas decoration items sold at a shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, December 3, 2017. /Reuters Photo

For Farrelly, consumers can play their part, but it is now up to manufacturers and policy-makers to step up and tackle the glitter problem.

“Why should producers continue to get away with making a profit out of the production of single-use disposable plastics, like plastic-based glitter, while bearing little to no responsibility for the environmental damage they cause?”

“Governments too, need to play their role in ensuring producers are more responsible,” she urged in an article published by Massey University.

A glitter-less Christmas may be out of the question for some, and the issue with microplastics goes far beyond shiny sprinkles, but “if plastic-based glitter is the vehicle for opening more conversations, then I welcome that,” noted Farrelly.

And from wood to glass, cloth and other natural materials, the seasonal ornaments market is filled with alternatives to decorate this year's Christmas tree.