You know what it’s like. You find it hiding in your hair, sticking to your fingers, and caked into crevices—sometimes weeks after you used it! Glitter adds sparkle to any artwork, but it’s practically impossible to clean up.
Many people, like American artist Rob Pruitt, love glitter and use it as an art medium even though it’s so messy. Pruitt covers the surface of paintings like the one at right with glitter. But some people are worried because, like other types of plastic, glitter is polluting the environment. Some activists are calling for a ban on glitter.
Most glitter is a microplastic. This term describes plastic fragments less than 5 millimeters (0.20 inches) long—or smaller than a grain of rice. Other plastic objects, from disposable bottles to bags, crumble into microplastic pieces over time. They can pollute the planet for hundreds of years.
Scientists have found that microplastics contaminate just about every part of the planet. They’ve detected the particles on Mt. Everest, in the deepest parts of the ocean, in our food and water supply, and in the human body. Microplastics pose a big risk for marine creatures, which mistake them for food.
In an effort to limit glitter’s contribution to the plastic crisis, some retailers have stopped selling holiday products made with glitter. Other companies have switched to biodegradable glitter, made from plants or minerals, which safely break down in nature.
Yet some people argue that banning plastic glitter isn’t an effective solution to the larger plastic pollution problem. They note that glitter accounts for only a tiny portion of the millions of tons of plastic waste produced each year.