Glitter - bad for the environment?

[sarah707]

What do we think?

Bad for the environment ... or a subtle advertising ploy by a nursery?

Personally I hate the stuff but the children seem to like it!

Glitter banned by Dorset children's nursery chain - BBC News

[bunyip]

Hmmm.......

It strikes me as a bit of well-intentioned bourgeois hand-wringing, accompanied by a large helping of self-righteousness.

She "only found out about Monday or Tuesday" and now she announces she's saving the planet. Give me a break. That's not research: it's knee-jerk pomposity.

She seems not to have noticed all her staff are wearing plastic name badges on her website to go with the branded polo shirts. Her corporate branding presumably doesn't have to give way to her eco-publicity then?

I'll start listening to Ms. Pacey when she insists all her staff and clients leave their New Forest stockbroker-cred 4by4s on their incredibly long drives and walk or cycle to the nursery.

Still, not the first "Pacey" to have a confused set of priorities.

[FussyElmo]

If it's being done with through intentions then great. Small changes if done by lots will make a small difference. Maybe the glitter companies will change if we boycott it.

A few years ago glitter that had been used in cake/food decorating was banning as our bodies wouldn't break it down so maybe it's time to help the birds and sea creatures too.

Let's be honest we buy glitter for it essentially to go in the bin - what do we think 95%. I think we can learn to create masterpieces without it.

Yes I also know there are worse type of pollution out there it I wonder how many of us have learnt to shop without needing tens of free flimsy plastic bags.

I like making subtle changes to help the environment that no one notices. I also haven't had glitter in my house for a good few years and no one commented. Not since a tub got dropped upstairs and dh had glittery rugby shorts for the entire season 😂😂😂😂

[bunyip]

I agree with your principles, Fussy, but not with Ms Pacey's methods.

She isn't so much making a subtle change as making a token change......and then making a series of phone calls to every newspaper and TVs company she can think of to publicise her nursery chain.

There's nothing to stop her switching from glitter to synthetic mica and keeping quiet about it.

I'm sure a lot of us care about the environment, but nothing makes environment-denyers dig their heels in like the pompous Ms P's of this world, who not only have to tell everybody how marvellous they are but also gain some business advantage or status from it, frequently whilst turning a blind eye to their own far more environmentally damaging habits and addictions.

[Mouse]

Well, I love glitter and I have no intention of stopping using it

If I really thought it had a huge environmental impact I would stop, but even the lady from the Marine Conservation Society doesn’t sound convinced that it’s going to make a big difference.

[Maza]

I haven't watched the clip, but I wonder if her nursery has stopped using wipes and disposable nappies.

[bunyip]

I haven't watched the clip, but I wonder if her nursery has stopped using wipes and disposable nappies.

.........or soap, toothpaste, household cleaning products, commercial cleaning products, or cosmetics, or any of the things that contain way more micro-plastic elements every day than a once-a-year splash of glitter.

[FloraDora]

I am fairly eco friendly, cosmetically and cleaning etc. Where I can I do....but dumping glitter? Nooooooooo.

The look on the LO’s faces, delight and excitement because it was a special craft time if glitter was out always made me smile.

What type of glitter is in the lush ( very friendly everything) bath bombs? They are not bath friendly as they linger forever once a bath has been had with them!

[bunyip]

I am fairly eco friendly, cosmetically and cleaning etc. Where I can I do....but dumping glitter? Nooooooooo.

The look on the LO’s faces, delight and excitement because it was a special craft time if glitter was out always made me smile.

What type of glitter is in the lush ( very friendly everything) bath bombs? They are not bath friendly as they linger forever once a bath has been had with them!

Lush use synthetic mica (the scientific name is too tricky for me to remember). It is available online. The nursery chain in question should try asking Lush, as they have a nursery in Poole, same as Lush's HQ.

Lush also make products without plastic microbeads, which are present in a vast range of cosmetics and cleaning products. I expect the nursery, their management, staff and clients have their cupboards and bathroom cabinets jammed full of the stuff. Lush use natural exfoliants/scrubbing agents, such as oatmeal or even sand. There are all sorts of alternatives: I use washing up liquid and sugar instead of Swarfega when I get filthy hands from the garden or fixing a bicycle chain.

Body Shop use similar ingredients, but I wouldn't touch them due to Body Shop being (in my personal view) one of the most unethical, hypocritical shops on the High Street.

Microbeads, whilst almost invisible next to glitter, have a much worse effect on the environment: partly due to the sheer volume of the things, but mainly because they kill the smaller marine creatures. Whilst krill lack the cuteness appeal of your average dolphin, they do provide the food source for most oceans. If you wipe out the bottom of the food chain, then what happens to everything that depends on it? Whales and dolphins may be smart, but they've not yet adapted their flippers to be able to phone for a pizza instead.

[FloraDora]

Lush use synthetic mica (the scientific name is too tricky for me to remember). It is available online. The nursery chain in question should try asking Lush, as they have a nursery in Poole, same as Lush's HQ.

Lush also make products without plastic microbeads, which are present in a vast range of cosmetics and cleaning products. I expect the nursery, their management, staff and clients have their cupboards and bathroom cabinets jammed full of the stuff. Lush use natural exfoliants/scrubbing agents, such as oatmeal or even sand. There are all sorts of alternatives: I use washing up liquid and sugar instead of Swarfega when I get filthy hands from the garden or fixing a bicycle chain.

Body Shop use similar ingredients, but I wouldn't touch them due to Body Shop being (in my personal view) one of the most unethical, hypocritical shops on the High Street.

Microbeads, whilst almost invisible next to glitter, have a much worse effect on the environment: partly due to the sheer volume of the things, but mainly because they kill the smaller marine creatures. Whilst krill lack the cuteness appeal of your average dolphin, they do provide the food source for most oceans. If you wipe out the bottom of the food chain, then what happens to everything that depends on it? Whales and dolphins may be smart, but they've not yet adapted their flippers to be able to phone for a pizza instead.

Thankyou Bunyip for that information. I do love Lush and use the personal washing products ...just the glitter bombs linger, but I am happy that the glitter is not bad for the environment, just for the ambience of my bathroom. So, I am on a mission to find the similar to Lush synthetic micro glitter on the high street / internet.

[Dragonfly]

Am I the only one that hates glitter? I don’t have it in the house. People used to put in the reindeer food they made for little ones at Christmas. But it’s actually not very good for the reindeers to eat or the birds.

[FloraDora]

Am I the only one that hates glitter? I don’t have it in the house. People used to put in the reindeer food they made for little ones at Christmas. But it’s actually not very good for the reindeers to eat or the birds.

Now I know why reindeers have never stopped at our house on Christmas Eve.

[hectors house]

I'm going to continue to use up my glitter supplies and as it only gets used in December it could take a few years - I did see in Sainsbury's last week some glitter paint and I am rather tempted to give that a try - but for the moment as well as glitter not instead of.

If lots of glitter ends up on the plastic mats I put down to protect the table, I don't tip it down the drain but find some glue not used on the child's creation and tip it off the mat back onto the picture - I don't tip it down the drain and I'm sure when children wash their hands only a few specks of it gets washed away.

We all see in the media the mass of plastic floating around in the sea but surely the answer isn't just recycling or finding a biodegradable or reusable option it's re-educating the people who throw their rubbish into rivers rather than in a rubbish bin. I feel that if all plastic bottles went back to being glass ones, some people would still not recycle them properly and we would end up with more broken glass on the streets. (And if they can't be bothered to walk 5 steps out of their way to put the rubbish in a bin would they really bother to take the glass bottle back to the shop to get 5p back)?

[bunyip]

As children, we used to spend days in the holidays knocking on doors to collect returnable bottles, then take them back to the "offy" to get the accumulated 10p's. If the shopkeeper declined to sell us cigarettes (!!!!!!!!!) with the proceeds we'd probably wait for the ice cream van, and get a kitchen mixing bowl filled with ice cream and a few wafers.

It was all reusable: we even steeped cigarette butts in water for my uncle to spray his tomatoes against blight. Of course, the whole thing these days would be illegal. Not sure I see where the environment wins these days.

Dragonfly: you're not alone. I don't much like glitter either.

[Dragonfly]

I don’t just don’t like it bunyip I detest it! And decorations that are covered in the stuff. Just shows we’re all different.

I remember the days of taking the bottles back to the offy. Good memories.

[hectors house]

I don’t just don’t like it bunyip I detest it! And decorations that are covered in the stuff. Just shows we’re all different.

I remember the days of taking the bottles back to the offy. Good memories.

When we went to stay with my gran and meet up with my cousins, we would go to the village dump and find bottles to take back to the pub for the deposit and then buy ice creams.

[mumofone]

I hate glitter but always feel its one of those things childminders should use to show we are fully open to messy play etc but i'd much rather not!

[Dragonfly]

Mumofone I have never ever felt that at all. My house is messy play all the time once the mindees arrive! Children have parents if they fill the need for glitter they are welcomed to do it in their own homes ( and then see how many do!)

[Maza]

I am constantly shocked and saddened by the amount of parents who can’t entertain ‘messy’ play. I had one minded turn up once with a very apologetic mother, saying ‘sorry’ for the state of him and his clothes but she was in a rush and left him alone with his porridge for two minutes, and he made such a mess of himself. As she was in a rush she genuinely hadn’t had time to change him, apology, apology. Honestly, there was the tiniest bit on the corner of his mouth, and possibly a dot on his top. I then knew why both her boys struggled to self feed. She was clearly feeding them. I bagged up some home made play dough once for the older sibling as he had been having such fun with it when it was time for him to go home. He told me the next day that he hadn’t been allowed to play with it, that they threw it away because it was dirty. I went round to their house once and was in shock at how minimalist and untouched it all looked.

Having said that though, you have to be in the mood for messy play. I’m generally really easy going (as I have boundaries in place so it doesn’t get out of hand) but I remember allowing something once when I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I remember getting really cross at the mess and completely counteracted any benefits gained from the experience. I vowed to listen to my mood from then on.

Glitter is lovely when offered as a treat. I remember being totally in awe of it as a child because it was such a rare treat. I agree though Dragonfly, no reason why it couldn’t be offered by parents, or not at all.








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[Mouse]

I must be in a minority as I don't see glitter as messy play! There's nothing better than finding glitter all over the house - I love spotting a stray bit of sparkle

But I do have a struggle with dirty messy play such as mud. At a push I will let children play with clean, dry compost...if I'm felling really daring I'll even let them have some water, but no way can I stand them playing with mud.