How To Remove Make-Up More Sustainably

Rebecca Jeffreys shares the best ways to remove your make-up sustainably with the least amount of waste (or none at all). 

I’m sure that when you take your make-up off at the end of the day, the last thing you’ll be thinking about is what effect your cotton pad or make-up wipe has on the environment. If you have a routine, it goes without second thought – the same way you discard your toothpaste tubes after each use, it’s a habit. But we can no longer turn away from the fact that these small conveniences come at a cost to our planet. 

Most wipes contain polyester, polypropylene, cotton, wood pulp, rayon fibres and a cocktail of plastics, which mean they’re non-biodegradable and are essentially bad for your skin. Research has shown that make-up wipes tend to smear around whatever makeup and debris is already present on your face and allows it to become a breeding ground for bacteria. So removing your make-up with a wipe may seem like you’re doing your skin a favour, but in reality it often leads to clogged pores and breakouts. 

If that doesn’t put you off, then how about the fact that it can take some make-up wipes up to 100 years to break down in landfill? Seriously, flushing your wet-wipe down a toilet could have the same impact on ocean life as microbeads. This is increasingly concerning as the 2017 Great British Beach Clean, which was conducted by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), revealed that there was a 94% increase in the number of wet wipes found on UK beaches. 

The BBC also reported that wet-wipes make up 93% of sewage blocks in the UK. They are especially present in fatbergs (something that occurs in sewers as a build-up of wipes, feminine hygiene products, fats and oils, and toilet paper). In fact, one particular fatberg recovered in April 2018 contained 5,453 wet-wipes. 

Heads were turned when MiCellar cleansing water arrived on the scene as it seemed like the best way to escape the preservatives and harsh chemicals found in make-up wipes. But MiCellar comes hand-in-hand with cotton pads, which, if not organic cotton, are likely to pollute rivers, damage local wildlife and severely impact our ecosystems. 

1.3 billion wipes are used daily and it’s up to us to make sure they don’t pollute our seas and rivers or end up in landfill. Swapping your single-use, disposable wipes and cotton pads for a more sustainable alternative will mean you’re making a difference, both for your skin, your bank account and the planet. It’s time that we cared for the planet as much as we do for our skin. 

So how can we reduce our impact altogether? Luckily for us, finding sustainable alternatives has never been easier. See below for our recommendations: