2024-01-07 07:00:31
Fashion show for Manish Arora’s spring-summer 2020 women’s ready-to-wear collection, in Paris, in September 2019. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
Were these the last end of year parties with decorations and glitter makeup? After six years of discussions, it is official: so-called “free” glitter will be gradually banned within the European Union (EU).
The measure, which came into force on October 17, 2023, but whose application will be gradual, continues to agitate the Web, which sometimes applauds, sometimes worries about this decision. Sam Dylan, a 32-year-old German influencer, expressed his panic to the tabloid across the Rhine Bild : “In my world, everything must shine. » The former reality TV candidate says he bought loose glitter for 180 euros, in order to anticipate their disappearance. “The EU is taking away the last sparks of glamour”annoys Luca Valentino, another German social media star.
This measure is part of the European Zero Pollution plan, with the objective of reducing microplastic pollution by 30% by 2030. Producers can sell off existing stocks, but they will not have the possibility of disposing of them. produce new ones.
These glittering particles, popular at music festivals and celebrations, are mostly made up of small pieces of plastic measuring less than 5 millimeters long, covered with a varnished layer of aluminum.
You only need to have accidentally spilled a pot of glitter while preparing a carnival costume or New Year’s Eve makeup to know that cleaning these fragments is impossible. It is quite similar for the environment, in which these microplastics flow without being able to be filtered or collected. Oceans, rivers, soils, air, food and drinking water are strewn with them, causing serious dangers, particularly for biodiversity.
” Christmas decorations “
More specifically, according to the European Commission, the ban concerns “all particles of synthetic polymers less than 5 millimeters that are organic, insoluble and resistant to degradation”.
Beyond free glitter, other products will gradually be targeted: skin scrubs or exfoliating treatments, because of the plastic microbeads they contain, but also toothpastes, shower gels, clothing, toys, detergents, nail polish, or even, in a few years, the small balls that can be found on synthetic sports fields.
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The ban does not apply “microplastic flakes made from natural, biodegradable or water-soluble inorganic materials”. Inorganic materials, such as glass, for example, do not contain carbon, unlike organic materials such as plastic, which many traditional glitters are made of.
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