The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry

8 minute read

• Beauty products often create plastic pollution and harvest ingredients like palm oil in environmentally destructive ways

• Ingredients in cosmetics are under-regulated and can cause harm to human, animal, and plant health

• Consumers can purchase sustainable and healthy beauty products from eco-conscious brands to reduce their environmental impact and protect their health

The global beauty industry is worth $511 billion as of 2021, with the U.S. market making up almost $63 billion of it. This large industry creates large amounts of plastic pollution, damages the environment by harvesting massive amounts of ingredients like palm oil, and includes chemicals that are harmful to human and environmental health. Fortunately, there are sustainable brands that use healthy ingredients you can choose from, but we’ll get to that later. First, we have to understand the problem we’re up against.

Plastic Pollution

The global cosmetics industry produces about 120 billion units of packaging each year. A majority of this packaging is plastic, much of it being non-recyclable. Even the recyclable plastic often isn’t recycled because consumers find it inconvenient or difficult. Most of the packaging ends up in landfills or in the environment as litter. 

The accumulation and decomposition of plastic in landfills can produce methane: an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Methane has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. An estimated 25 percent of global warming can be traced back to human-made methane emissions. While the largest contributor to methane emissions is the oil and gas industry, landfills come in third, producing 15 percent of all methane emissions. 

The global cosmetics industry produces about 120 billion units of packaging each year.

Image by: Unsplash

Palm Oil

Palm oil is one of the most common ingredients in cosmetics, found in almost half of all packaged consumer goods. The harvest of this oil severely damages the environment. Forests are cleared and the land is used for monoculture oil palm plantations. In this process, animal habitats are destroyed and some species face extinction. Palm oil production also contributes to air pollution as many forests are burned in the clearing process. Mills produce 2.5 metric tons of wastewater for every metric ton of palm oil, which when released into the environment causes freshwater pollution. The clearing of natural forests also increases soil erosion and decreases the forests’ ability to capture carbon, exacerbating the climate crisis.  

Unregulated Ingredients

The U.S. federal government doesn’t require ingredients in personal care products -- which includes things like make-up, deodorant, lotion, and mouthwash -- to be studied before they enter the market. Currently, brands can put almost anything into their products, including known carcinogens. The safety of ingredients in cosmetics is generally studied by the manufacturer-controlled Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel after they’ve hit the market. And unfortunately, of the approximate 10,500 ingredients found in cosmetics, 89 percent have not been studied in any capacity. 

Ingredients like phthalates, formaldehyde, parabens, and more are common in American beauty products. Phthalates have been shown to be endocrine disruptors -- facilitating early puberty, reducing sperm counts, and causing birth defects. When phthalates enter the environment, commonly through water, the effects seen on humans can also be seen in animals. To learn more about chemicals to avoid in your cosmetics and why, you can check out Byrdie’s article or the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics database.

Choosing Healthy and Sustainable Products

The point of this discussion is not to scare you, but to empower you with the information to take care of your health and to protect the planet. Luckily for us, there are tons of healthy and sustainable personal care brands out there! 

One of our favorites is Mother Dirt. They aren’t just another skincare brand, they created a revolutionary Active Probiotic System that powerfully restores the skin microbiome. They use only the best and safest ingredients, for you and the planet, to give you biologically balanced and vibrant skin. Their mission is to celebrate the magic of Mother Earth every day of the year. To give back to the planet, Mother Dirt has partnered with us to plant a tree for every purchase, starting October 15! One mangrove tree will capture 680 pounds of carbon in its lifetime, which is more than enough to cover the emissions from shipping one order to your doorstep. On top of their partnership with us, they use biodegradable and recyclable packaging -- what’s not to love?

Starting today, Mother Dirt is planting 1 Tree Per Order with Ecodrive to offset the carbon emissions from each shipment!

Image by: Mother Dirt

The next time you’re shopping for personal care products, be sure to check the ingredients, for your own health and the health of the planet.