“The symbol of joy and happiness" Glitter has been used in this world since prehistoric times, in the past it had been made from natural ingredients such as mica, malachite , insects or glass. We have known glitter since we were kids. Glitter has been used in craft projects  in  kindergartens or elementary schools and really makes children feel excited and having a lot of fun.

Sparkling glitter greeting cards  for special occasions  such as birthday, Christmas, Easter, graduation, New year, wedding and so on  can  stimulate customers to buy them. Tons of glitter have been sprinkling in many concerts, TV shows, parties, parades. Cosmetic and fashion industry also demand glitter because of its gorgeous, eye-catching property.

Does anyone know that behind our joyful feeling with glitter, we can cause the problem to our environment and marine life?

Basically glitter nowadays is made from Aluminium and a plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). With a tiny size of it which is less than 5 mm in length. , Glitter is considered as Microplastic according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). When we washed out those glitters, they flow through our plumbing system and too small to be filtered by water treatment facilities and finally end up in the ocean. Microplastics are such a big problem for the environment because they account for 92.4% of the total 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating around in the ocean.

Glitter is harmful to marine life no matter large or small.  From seabirds,sea turtles, whales, dolphins, fish to seahorses or even plankton, they can ingest both intentionally or unintentionally. United Nations (2017) mentioned in the ocean conference that more than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals, sea turtles and countless fish die from plastic pollution every year.

Many researches have shown that marine life is disappearing at twice the speed of life on land due to the fact that they are lack of the ability to adapt to the  changing water temperatures, adequate shelter. (Solly, 2019) Human are playing a role in marine pollution whether they know it or not.  Shall we more concern those marine life? Every life is important, no matter how small.

References :

Gabbatiss, J. (2017, November 16). Glitter should be banned over environmental impact, scientists warn.The Independent.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/glitter-ban-environment-microbead-impact-microplastics-scientists-warning-deep-ocean-a8056196.html

Liberatore, S.(2019, December 10). Scientists call for a complete ban on GLITTER because the particles are polluting oceans and hurting marine life. Dailymail UK.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7777837/Scientists-call-complete-ban-GLITTER-particles-polluting-oceans.html

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What are microplastics?. The U.S. Department of Commerce.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html

Pappas, S.(2017, November 30). No Shimmer: Why Scientists Want to Ban Glitter. Live Science.

https://www.livescience.com/61060-global-glitter-ban.html

Parker, L. (2017, November 30). To Save the Oceans, Should You Give Up Glitter?. National Geographic.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/glitter-plastics-ocean-pollution-environment-spd/

Petter, O. (2019, March 24). Ban Glitter in the UK to save the environment, Campaigners say ‘We need to do this as soon as possible’.The Independent. 

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/glitter-ban-38-degrees-petition-michael-gove-a8837486.html

Sharma, R. (2017, November 17). Where did glitter come from?". International Business Times.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/brief-history-glitter-where-it-originated-1647779

Solly, M. (2019, April 25). Ocean-Dwelling Species Are Disappearing Twice as Quickly as Land Animals. Smithsonian Magazine.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ocean-dwelling-species-are-disappearing-twice-quickly-land-animals-180972040

United Nations (2017, June 5-9). Factsheet: Marine pollution. The Ocean Conference,New York, United States. 

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Ocean_Factsheet_Pollution.pdf

Wetzel, C. (2020, March 6). Should we get rid of glitter?. ScienceLine.

https://scienceline.org/2020/03/should-we-get-rid-of-glitter