Healthy Skin, Healthy Earth: Can We Do Both?
By: Intan Natalia Sandy
Clear, healthy and glowy skin is the ultimate goal that every skin enthusiast has been dreaming of; but at what cost? People would invest their time and money to achieve this beauty standard by watching reviews on YouTube and Tiktok about certain moisturisers, following dermatologists on Instagram for new product knowledge and would purchase dozens of different skin care products solely from trusting testimonies of their favourite influencers online.
This has led the skincare industry to be alluring and entice their customers to have a positive experience, resulting in the industry being one of the leading forces in the world’s economy. According to Precedence Research, the global cosmetic market generated approximately US$ 341.1 billion in 2020 and has been expected to grow significantly up to US$ 560.5 billion by 2030.
But did you know that the skincare industry did not only contribute to aiding the economy but also has become a major contributor to plastic pollution that is harmful to our environment? To keep up with the rapidly expanding industry, the world of beauty and skin care has been actively developing new products to assist our daily wants and needs in achieving the skin condition we are aiming for, which means that the increasing number of beauty products sold and used also creates a higher amount of plastic waste. If you take a closer look into your skincare collections, most of the packaging is made from plastic! A report done by The Minderoo Foundation shows that the global cosmetics industry has been producing 120 billion units of packaging every year, most of which are non-recyclable and contain unnecessary ingredients that will end up in our landfills and oceans. Even though approaches of substitute packaging solutions have been suggested, such as biodegradable materials, marketing decisions based on prior knowledge and widely used practices take precedence over zero-waste packaging given that it is not widely implemented yet and may be considered more of an aesthetic brand statement. Prior to the industry being heavily dependent on plastic, the idea of skin care products was such a luxurious and exclusive item as most of them came in elaborate glass packaging. The skin care industry had only just started implementing plastic in the mid-20th century when people found out how to package their skin care products in a flexible, lightweight and sturdy way which can be used as an affordable alternative to glass packaging.
Knowing that plastic packaging has become the standard practice in the skin care industry, how exactly has it impacted our Earth? The farming of ingredients, development of products and packaging, use of packaging during distribution, product disposal at the end of its useful life and the ingredients found in plastic packaging are only some of the environmental effects of the feel-good industry that can harm our Earth. Additionally, this effect is significantly magnified by the high product turnover resulting from the consumers discovering the desired products.
With the advancement of technology, we would assume that people would be more aware of plastic pollution and how it can harm our environment. Yet even with the growing public awareness and activities surrounding plastic, we are still not doing nearly enough to stop the issue from arising. By 2040, according to the survey done by PEW, the amount of plastic entering the sea is expected to nearly quadruple to 29 million metric tons per year if no urgent and persistent action is taken. The domino effect that the industry has towards the environment can be illustrated as the lifetime use of water in the production and usage of skin care products having in mind that water is the key component in many skin care compositions as well as in producing plastic packaging. Not only the manufacturing of plastic packaging can have a negative impact on our environment, but an ingredient found in it called PETE or PET (polyethene terephthalate) takes longer to decompose and generate toxicity that can affect both the environment and our health. In Indonesia alone, this type of plastic has contributed almost 50% of the 11, 6 million tonnes of plastic waste by 2021 which is equivalent to more than 89 000 blue whales, the largest creature on Earth that ever existed!
Taking into consideration that the alarming rate of plastic waste in Indonesia keeps on increasing and more people are conscious of this issue, society has seen the growing importance of eco-friendly products and sustainable packaging, A few local beauty and skin care companies have taken some initiatives to tackle the plastic waste issue such as starting campaigns, the purpose of which is to raise awareness in reducing plastic waste, encouraging their customers to recycle empty plastic bottles by donating them back through waste collectors and last but not least, providing products that are eco-friendly with the uses of tin and biodegradable paper packaging.
Before having the awareness of how much skin care products and their packaging has contributed to the enormous amount of plastic waste in our country, we would never think twice about getting 5 new skin care products and where the bottles or containers would end up in 50 years. But now, we know how one little click of the checkout button on our shopping cart can do to our Earth. Let’s be wise consumers after knowing that we can contribute to making our Earth as beautiful as our skin by supporting brands that care about us and our environment!
