Nothing feels worse than forcing yourself to realize that the glitter you wash off at the end of Girls’ Night Out doesn’t magically dissolve into the sewer system. In fact, most glitter gets washed out into our beloved oceans where filter feeders and fish eventually ingest it. They’re not supposed to do that.
Luckily, biodegradable glitter is already a thing. Most of the time, it’s made from a substance called fluorphlogopite, aka synthetic mica. It doesn’t bioaccumulate, it’s not harmful to the environment, and it breaks down after you wash it off.
Another popular material for biodegradable glitter is actually a derivative of eucalyptus! Cellulose, which is the most abundant organic polymer on the planet (oooh, ahhh) is in pretty much everything – especially plants. This hearty, plastic-like material can be used to make tiny, biodegradable glitter specks of pretty much any size, but like fluorphlogopite, it dissolves once it’s in waste- or sea-water.
— Read the entire piece on Broke & Beautiful: 10 Affordable Beauty Brands to Help You Switch to Biodegradable Glitter