ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS OF BEAUTY INDUSTRY

BEAUTY INDUSTRY

Beauty industry embellishes faces but distorts environment with its hazardous solid, plastic and toxic waste. How ironic it is that man is ruining his own home just to make money. He is digging his own grave without keeping into consideration what wrong he is doing with others and even with himself. Beauty industry that sounds pleasant when it is imagined with colours, attraction of packaging and aromatic substances but the other side is ugly and detrimental and the other side remains hidden from the very eyes of the people in general. They think about themselves when appearance comes in the way and ignore other factors. This self-centered and selfish approach is taking the toll on the environment. It is a decided factor that breathing in the healthy atmosphere is right of every body and this right should never be infringed upon in any case.   

• PACKAGING WASTE

The beauty industry requires packaging made of both plastic and cardboard. As far as plastic packaging is concerned, the cosmetic industry is responsible of producing more than 120 billion packages every year and most of these packages are discarded in an unattended manner and this waste poses serious threat to the environment as mostly this plastic material is non-biodegradable and nature cannot decompose it and this material will take 10 to 600 years in decomposition. The plastic material thrown away by the beauty industry and according to a study, over 8 million ton of plastic enter oceans on yearly basis. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found in 2019 that some portion of oceans have seven times more plastic particles than fish.  

• EXCESSIVE USE OF WATER

Water is one of the greatest blessings of nature and existence of life wholly depends upon it. Water has no substitute and its benefits are also irreplaceable. The beauty industry plays havoc with this blessing as it uses 12 million tons of water on daily basis. Water is used in making beauty products in the factories and is also used excessively at homes to rinse off the makeups. This excessive use of water in factories is posing threat to earth environment as this water is obtained from the sources meant for the farms, fields, crops and other vegetations. The industry gets clean water but it throws away water full of chemicals and pollutants which pollute soil, waterways, air and the oceans.

• MICROBEADS

Many of the beauty products contain plastic particles which are called microbeads and are one of the major sources of the plastic pollution, Microbeads are usually found in body scrubs and other beauty products and act as exfoliants. The microbeads are small plastic particle not more than 5mm. The consumers se

nd countless microplastic particles to the drain when they scrub off the cosmetic items containing microbeads and these pollutants make the way into the water bodies. The oceans which are already bearing the brunt of the catastrophic impact of the plastic packaging used in the beauty industry have to face the severe impact of microbeads which are enough to make the situation even worse. The toxins in the microbeads are swallowed by the fish and in case of human consumption it becomes health hazard for human beings.

AIR POLLUTION

The beauty items such as perfumes, deodorants and hair sprays contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which are air pollutants. As per a recent study, these VOCs containing products are one of the major contributors of the carbon dioxide emissions. The study also shows that the household and beauty products’ emissions are approximately half of the VOCs emitted in 33 urban areas, The beauty industry uses fossil fuel derived materials for beauty items and packaging and these materials also contribute to air pollution because of its toxic gas emissions and chemical waste.

• DEFORESTATION

The plant-based raw material used in the beauty products causes large scale cutting down of trees to make space for the planation of specific trees beneficial for the beauty industry. The trees are also cut down to make tons of cardboard boxes, paper wraps and packaging tissues which are thrown away as soon as the consumers start using the beauty products. The packaging material made with the tree-based products cause cutting down of 18 million acres of forests every year and this largescale industrial deforestation is a major cause of global warming and climate change and also disturbs the eco-system and eco-cycle that is necessary to make balance of CO2 presence in the atmosphere. The huge deforestation is also affecting biodiversity as the native plants and wildlife are decreasing at an alarming rate.      

As a bottom line, the human beings are paying a heavy price in the form of decadence of the atmosphere and the price is being paid in exchange of dreams and illusions to become beautiful by using the cosmetics. These cosmetics give cosmetic satisfaction but the outcome is beyond imagination if viewed in term of the negative effects on the human home. The beauty industry should be fair enough to come forward and do its utmost to save the mother earth from degradation and catastrophic impact of the pollution. There should be justice and transparency as the earth should be kept intact from negative impacts so that it may remain a better place to live on.   

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