I know how convenient wipes are and how much you love them. I get it because I love wipes too and have even created a line of wipes to maybe launch down the line but here’s the thing! Store-Bought cleansing / makeup / baby / disinfecting wipes are a massive burden to the planet and a constant foe to your skin, limiting its ability to be radiant and healthy because it is fighting this daily battle while creating exactly the dry, sensitive, congested and inflamed skin that you don’t want.
When it comes to our Mother Earth (and Her wellness should be as much a priority as our own), there are two major reasons why wipes are incredibly burdensome. The first and “The biggest environmental problem with makeup remover wipes is the sheer volume,” says Diana Felton MD, state toxicologist with the Hawaii Department of Health. “One group estimates that 20 million pounds of single-use wipes (including baby wipes and disinfecting wipes) are disposed of every day in the U.S. And despite claims to the contrary, most are not biodegradable and do not rapidly break down, creating too much trash to fit in our landfills.” That last sentence is important because 1) “despite claims of biodegradability” means we do not know if we can even trust the product and what it says itself to be and 2) if there is too much to fit in landfills then clearly that overflow is drifting elsewhere… think rivers, oceans and streams as well as nature’s land-masses and natural open spaces like fields, forests, mountain trails & valleys.
The second major reason why wipes are destructive to Mother Earth is that the majority of them (and yep, even the most popular ones who knowing their influence choose to ignore their ethical responsibility to do better) are made from non-biodegradable plastic fibers like polyester, polypropylene, and rayon. These fibers contaminate the environment and block waterways after becoming massive molten and gooey blobs that become so unmanageable that they cannot be removed and are resilient to wastewater treatment.
Now let’s talk about what these wipes are actually doing to your (and your baby’s) skin…
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