Single-use plastic cotton buds are now banned for sale in the UK, but many big brands still sell cotton buds in plastic tubs, which rather defeats the point.
This box of bamboo cotton buds is made by a small ethical company (industrial bamboo is not the same as fresh shoots eaten by pandas).
Don’t Use Cotton Buds to Clean Inside Ears
Cotton buds are simply for first aid purposes and to remove make-up, and sometimes to clean fiddly areas (say around a car gearstick).
All medics warn of the perils of sticking cotton buds inside your ear drum, to clean them if they are waxy. Wax is actually needed to protect ears. If you have too much, try cleaning up your diet, wash them with a flannel, and visit the GP to get your ears syringed. You’ll hear better too!
Cotton buds poked inside eardrums, just poke wax further into the ear, and could even result in a painful burst eardrum. A good percentage of children’s ear problems, are caused by cotton buds being used inside ears.
More Good Bamboo Cotton Buds
Jungle Culture also make good buds, made from organic cotton and bamboo). Littered cotton buds are just the right shape and size to escape filters in sewers, so end up in the sea, where they can harm marine wildlife.
This cardboard box of 200 cotton buds is ideal for removing make-up or cleaning fiddly things.
Why Do Cotton Buds Harm Marine Creatures?
The campaign against plastic cotton buds went viral, after this seahorse (a creature that clings to anything it finds to swim) was photographed by Justin Hofman, clutching a discarded cotton bud in the sea.
These mysterious creatures are not good swimmers, so cling to the first thing they see, to keep steady. In this case, it was a plastic cotton bud.
The same happened when a sea turtle had to have a plastic straw removed from its nostril. Another photo of a turtle that the photographer rescued from fishing net went viral too. Underwater photographers are having huge impact worldwide.
How can such tiny items cause so much harm? Cotton buds are just the right size and shape to miss filtering machines, and fall down storm drains and go into the sea.
Marine animals often mistake them for food, and their long cylindrical shape can harm soft-bellied creatures. And of course plastic breaks down into microplastics, and ends up being accidentally ingested by filter feeders (like whales).