I.

Introduction
It's tough to stay plastic-free when you're shopping for cosmetics. Because the makeup is brimming
with liquids and powders, it tends to rely on lots of plastic packaging to keep everything together.
and this leads to lots of waste every time. Moreover, these substances usually contain lots of
chemicals and toxins. Products like soap, lotion, make-up, and deodorant are loaded with toxic
ingredients, some of them known to be carcinogens. Chemicals like parabens and aluminum
compounds mimic estrogen and can promote cancer cells to grow. In this short video presentation, I
would like to teach you to be more attentive when it comes to using personal care products, for the
environment and your health.

II. Statistics

It’s estimated that the global beauty industry produces more than 120 million units of packaging
each year, and packaging accounts for 70% of the industry’s waste. Just in the U.S., 7.9 billion units
of rigid plastic were created for the cosmetic industry.

Data found that, despite the increased public consciousness and initiatives around plastic, we're still
not doing anywhere near enough to curb the problem. Without immediate and sustained action, the
amount of plastic entering our oceans is predicted to nearly triple by 2040, to 29 million metric tons
per year.

As it stands, there’s so much plastic in the sea already, we can see it from space and a study by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration discovered that some parts of the ocean have
seven times more plastic particles than fish.

And sadly, the idea of recycling all our plastic is kind of a sham.

As much as we commend every bit of elbow grease put into scrubbing out plastic containers to
recycle, unfortunately, only about 9% of plastics get recycled, according to the EPA.

Given the hard-to-clean design of tubes and dispensers along with the various types of plastic -
which may be hard or impossible to recycle - of many beauty products, we expect that number to be
even lower for cosmetics overall.

The UN Environment Programme states, “If current levels of consumption continue, there will be
12 billion tons of plastic in landfill, equivalent to 35,000 Empire State Buildings.”

III. How you can reduce waste from beauty products?

There are a few rules to remain sustainable:
1) The first step to figuring out how to properly recycle your beauty product containers is to check
your local recycling laws because recycling varies by country. You can look on your packaging for
the chasing arrow icon and it should have a number inside to indicate the plastic type. Generally
speaking, #1 and #2 are recyclable plastics that are widely accepted in curbside recycling programs.
2) don’t use wet wipes. Alongside plastic packaging, wet wipes are among the worst. An
investigation by Water UK found that wet wipes – which commonly contain polypropylene, a
plastic that won’t decompose – made up more than 90% of the material causing sewer blockages.
2) use reusable cotton pads for your make-up removal, regular ones just like wet wipes contain
plastic
3) another good switch is to use bamboo cotton buds instead of regular plastic cotton buds
4) buy shampoos, conditioners, cleansers, and deodorants in bars wrapped in paper. There are many
brands for example Zao, and Shaushka, which offer zero-waste products like these.
Also at the end of the video, I will give you a recipe for your homemade body soap.
5) Another way to reduce waste is to look for multi-use products. Try a “less is more” approach and
look for simple products that you can use for multiple purposes. A good example of this is „Aleppo
soap” which is made from olive oil and laurel oil and can be used for washing clothes, brushing
teeth and of course, as a body wash.
6) Overall, remember the 4 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and (perhaps most importantly) Refuse.
Vote with your dollar and skip out on the companies that are contributing to so much plastic waste
in the cosmetics industry when you can.

Did you know that you can make handmade soap by using natural ingredients that you can grow at
home or in your garden?
For your handmade soap you will need:
-aloe vera leaves
- dice soap base
- dry lavender flowers (optional)
- oil with vitamin E

Steps
1) to extract fresh aloe for soap making:
-Cut the aloe leaf into several sections.
-Use a sharp knife to run along the inside edges of each section, separating the inner gel from the
outer skin.
-Use your fingers or a spoon and press the aloe gel from the leaf.
2) Place in a small food processor or blender.
Process until smooth. (It will get fluffy, almost like egg whites.)

3)After blending aloe vera’s gel double melt dice soap base on a double boiler
4) add aloe gel to melted soap
5) then sprinkle your mass with dry lavender flowers for a nice smell and look
6) add some E-oil to your liquid
10) pour the substance into a silicon mold
11) wait until solid
12) enjoy ur shower with handmade soap ;)

And this is all for today’s video. I hope that you learned something that you will be more aware of
the plastic problem we have and you will choose your self-care products more wisely. Thank you
for watching, remain eco-friendly and sustainable.