A staggering 90% of wet wipes are made from plastic materials that could take up to 100+ years to decompose from a landfill. This means they have a long time to cause a lot of damage before breaking down. And if considering the widespread use of wet wipes across the board (from hospitals, supermarkets, gyms and co-working spaces to beauty and baby wipes), then wet wipes containing plastic are one of the worst environmental offenders.

We are urging the Australian Government to ban plastic blended wet wipes by July 2023. This is not a call for a ban on all types of wet wipes! Wet wipes are extremely convenient and sometimes absolutely necessary to get yourself out of sticky situations. But, we should look at using sustainable and naturally-derived biodegradable alternatives that are readily available on the market. Plastic-free wet wipes should be the only type of wipes available for purchase and used by households and businesses. But we need to act now, before it's too late.

What’s more, plastic wipes result in harmful microplastics that can enter the human body. 

How? By ending up in our food-chain and water systems, but also the air we breathe. In fact, according to National Geographic, the average person eats and breathes an approximate 74,000 microplastic particles a year. Worse still, plastic particles have been detected by scientists inside human placentas, posing a real hazard to human life.

With this all taken into account, it seems kind of senseless to rub plastic wipes on our skin when there are biodegradable wet wipes available, that are both kinder on the skin and our planet. 

Plastic blended wet wipes should no longer exist within our society because their harmful effects outweigh their benefits. As such, wet wipes containing plastic should be classified and treated the same way as other single use plastics. And we need to act now, in order to prevent them from causing long-term environmental damage to our planet. There is no Planet B, after all. 

A future without plastic wipes is possible, but we need YOUR help to bring about real change.

Please sign and share with your family, friends, your network and community!