wands at the ready

washed with soap in ziplock bags

sent to save wildlife.

 

Morning Folks,

Happy Sustainable Sunday! I’m up early for me. Later today I will be rolling through my town in my wheelchair dressed as a giant cheese to remember The local Cheese Riots of 1766 and raise donations and awareness to fight food poverty in 2019. More info about all this can be found by clicking here or by reading my previous Sustainable Sunday post on food and climate. I will probably post an update next week after the event.

This week though, I want to share with you two pieces of good news regarding our battle with single-use plastic. One involving wands.

Firstly, I’ve found out through Ecowatch that a not-for-profit Dutch company has successfully trialed a floating device capable of reducing plastic already in the ocean.  This doesn’t mean, of course, that we can keep pouring the stuff in. The amount and speed it can extract are nothing in comparison with how fast the world consumes and throws ‘away’. Plastic that’s discarded has to go somewhere, so reusable, fully recyclable and refills remain the way to go. This floating plastic waste reducer is an important weapon in our battle against climate chaos though.

Back to wands, as promised. A post I saw today put a smile on my face. It was about where to upcycle mascara wands. I’ve weaned myself off wearing make-up every day as I’m mostly at home (mobility & health). I will admit to feeling the need to accentuate my better features and camouflage my worst. My eyes are my best feature and lip gloss, cover-up and mascara are my basic go-to minimal make-up look. I’ve managed to find or make cruelty-free lip and face products with zero waste or low waste packaging but my mascara wands have stared back at me with reproach. Until now.

A wildlife rescue in coastal Scotland is asking for old mascara wands washed in soapy water. They use them to clean oil, larvae, fly eggs, mites, infections, mud, and pollutants off animals.  So, to those of you who, like me, sometimes wish you could wave a wand and make climate chaos go away, this is probably as close as we’ll get. But it’s a good feeling. I’m sure there’s a wildlife centre near you that could use them. If you’re in or near the UK the address below may be useful.

Send your washed mascara wands in a ziplock bag to:

The New Arc,

Nether Auquhadile,

Auchnaggat,

Ellon,

ABERDEENSHIRE,

AB41 8UW