Conscious Consumption!

Conscious Consumption: Personal Care Products

Shampoo, soap, shaving cream, deoderant, make up, lotions, etc.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

• Many ingredients in personal care products come from developing parts of the world, where the locals have lost their land rights to large companies which degrade the environment significantly.
• Ingredients are shipped from all over the world, which contributes lots of CO₂ to the atmosphere!
• Most personal care products containers are made of types of plastic can’t be recycled and take hundreds of years to decompose.
• The industrial process to create synthetic ingredients such as cyclopentasiloxane, stearyl alcohol and phenyl trimethicone, is extremely intense, requiring lots of energy, water raw materials, and nonrenewable resources.
• Products like deodorant and make-up soak right through your skin and into your bloodstream.
• Just because it says “Natural” does not mean that it is!

WHAT CAN I DO?

• Look into organic personal care products, which are better for you and the environment, more information can be found at http://www.terressentials.com/ingredientguide.html or http://safecosmetics.org/!
• Buy large bottles of shampoo and conditioner to reduce the amount of packaging, money, and your time!
• Minimize the products you buy by considering which products you will actually use.
• Buying organic products are the best way to go.  It’s even better if they’re made locally, which reduces transportation and saves energy. (Check out Burt’s Bees, on sale in the Colby Bookstore, or the options available at Barrels?)

(Information thanks to Lizzy and Michelle, West Quad EcoReps!)

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