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). 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.
Although plastic cotton buds are now banned for sale in the UK, most brands still sell in plastic packaging, which rather defeats the point.
Most people don’t need cotton buds. You shouldn’t use them to clean ears (this can damage the eardrum, visit the GP instead to get them syringed). They are useful for cleaning fiddly areas (like around computer keys or car gearsticks). But most people use them to remove cosmetics.
How can such tiny items cause so much harm? Plastic cotton buds are still legal to sell in many countries, and nearly always end up in our oceans. 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).
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.
