Eco-friendly Cotton Buds Alternatives in India

Last Updated on April 2, 2024

Everyone is talking about plastic pollution these days. And rightly so, the amount of plastic waste generated and accumulating in the environment is at alarmingly high levels. You may have already heard about this all and hence I won’t lecture you on the same.

Instead, I am here to share an easy alternative I have found to reduce some plastic waste from my personal care routine. Something we all use on a daily basis but never really include in a plastic waste conversation.

Cotton Buds!

Cotton bud/Q-tips are disposable items with various uses- from ear cleaning to fixing makeup mistakes. Their stems are made up of plastic and have a usage life of mere seconds. Pos-use they end up in landfills, beaches and oceans damaging aquatic life.

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There is an easy way to reduce cotton bud pollution by simply switching to eco-friendly cotton buds made of paper/wooden or bamboo stems. These are available easily in the market and online.

I picked wooden ones from Miniso since they were the cheapest ones I could find. They cost Rs.150 for 500 pcs(Rs. 30 for 100 pcs) which is almost at par with the plastic ones which come around Rs.27 for 100pcs.

Also Read: 9 Ways to Make Your Beauty routine Sustainable

If you apply too much pressure these seem to break as they not flexible like the plastic ones. But Miniso has a paper variant too which costs slightly more but can be flexible.

What I love about these is that they have a pointy edge on one side which is perfect for fixing any smudged lipstick, eyeliner etc.

Eco-friendly Cotton buds in India

If there is a Miniso store in your city, I highly recommend buying from them since they are the cheapest option available. You can also buy from other online retailers on Amazon.

I am sharing a few options below you can look into.

• Care n Touch Wooden Cotton Buds (currently using these)
• Majestique Cotton Swabs
• Bamboo India Ear Buds (these come in an eco-friendly packaging too)

A small step of switching to eco-friendly cotton buds can make a huge impact on reducing plastic pollution. Remember to never flush down cotton buds down the drain as they end up in sewage systems and ultimately in the oceans.

Also Read: 9 ways to use up beauty products faster

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