A community of educators empowering students to take climate action
Cosmetics, clothing and the ocean
Marine Conservation Society
Session for secondary schools
We look at how your bathroom cosmetics and clothing habits could be polluting our seas. Did you know that many cosmetics like make-up products, face creams, hair care and face wash contain invisible ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS, these remain in the marine environment for many years and can have a detrimental impact on the ocean and the animals within it. Our cosmetics are also most commonly stored in non-recyclable plastics, the containers use up valuable raw materials and stay around for hundreds of years after use.
Our clothes are made of millions of tiny fibres, many of which are plastic. With every wash and wear, these microfibres shed from our clothes and can end up in the environment. A single wash can release over 700,000 microfibres into wastewater, many of which then end up in the ocean.
We consider actions we can take to reduce the amount of chemicals and plastics both large and small ending up in the ocean.
Speaker: Rachael Wright, Education Officer, Marine Conservation Society
This resource helps support the below Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
For more information on the full set of SDGs, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Establish sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Contact
If you would like to know more about Transform Our World, or any of our programmes, please get in touch.
Thank you for submitting your enquiry! We are currently receiving a large number of enquiries and are trying our best to get back to people as soon as possible. In the meantime, you might find one of the following links helpful:
Access catch up content from the Transform Our World Youth Summit
As a Transform Our World user, you can access the content from the Transform Our World Youth Summit and catch up on the content across three themed days, looking at individual actions we can do, people in power we can influence and the importance of living our true values.
Follow the links below and check out the timestamp guide to navigate the content.
- Are you a teacher? Learn about how to use the website here.
- Looking for teaching resources? You can find our collection of highly-rated resources here.
- Looking for something more long-term? Check out our featured programmes here.
- Want to see what other schools have been up to? Have a read of some case studies here.
- Alternatively, take a look at our FAQs and About pages as they might help to answer your question(s).
All the best,
The Transform Our World team
is brought to you by
All content © 2023 Global Action Plan, except for partner content which belongs to the linked organisations. Global Action Plan co-ordinates Transform Our World and is a charity registered in England and Wales number 1026148, and in Scotland number SC041260. Tel: 0204 566 9904