Before we plunge into the appalling facts and figures, let’s acknowledge the presence of those gorgeous innocent-looking shampoo bottles sitting in your bathroom. The apparently harmless shampoo bottles promise the striking look of luscious hair. The hypnotizing ads and lush packaging of shampoo tempt you into spending money. You believe in the power of shampoo transforming your hair, we all do. But those gorgeous bottles do come at a cost, and it’s really starting to impact our planet.
The shampoo itself might be effective enough to give you with gorgeous locks but what happens to the shampoo bottle?
As soon as you finish your beloved bottle, it is replaced by another and then another. I grew up in salon culture, but I had no idea just how staggering the numbers really were. According to a study summarized by the New York Times, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced since it was introduced in the 1950s, with around half of it made since 2004. Sadly, most of that plastic is no longer in use. Only around 9% of it has been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% is accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. Plastic packaging, which is typically used for less than a year, accounted for about 42% of non-fiber (aka, non-material) plastic production in 2015. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12 billion metric tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.
The plastic in landfills take minimum 70 years and maximum 450 years to decompose.
In 2019, Americans produced a revenue of 29.338 billion dollars on haircare products. The rampant use of so-called all-natural and revitalizing shampoos is expected to provide revenue of 37.92 billion dollars in 2027. The figures are huge and equally devastating.
· more than 552 million shampoo bottles could be ending up in landfills every year
· the number of shampoo bottles thrown out in the United States every year could fill 1,164 football fields
· only 1 in 5 people consistently recycle items from the bathroom.
Sad but true!
Your shampoo and conditioner bottle is much more than merely a container of hair care product. With every passing day, the danger and insecurity of mother Earth increases because of the active contribution of shampoo and conditioner bottles in plastic pollution.
Even more frightening is the dilemma of being unsure about your priorities. Several surveys have been conducted worldwide to highlight the issue of the impact of shampoo and conditioner bottles on the environment. Millions of people acknowledge the disadvantage of plastic containers of shampoos and other hair products but they don’t intend to quit plastic. According to them, there are no alternatives.
Solution under spotlight: Zero-waste hair care is the solution!
Shampoo bottles have done enough damage to mother Earth. It is late but not too late to switch to alternate options. Zero-waste hair care is a reality which is beneficial for Earth as well as us.
Shampoo and conditioner bars do not create any waste. That is why we call bars a zero-waste strategy! They do not come in fancy plastic bottles but are if not more effective then your salon shampoos. Shampoo and conditioner bars give you voluminous, dandruff-free, frizz-free, smooth and silky hair.
Make the eco-friendly decision now!