Don’t you just love glitter? I think we all love glitter. In fact for most crafters, their bloodstream is probably 90% glitter, because everything is better with glitter right? Unfortunately that lovely touch of sparkle makes for some rather “un-shiny” situations in the environment.

While making something yourself gives you more control over what goes into it, sometimes even the materials you use for handmade items aren’t always the most environmentally friendly of things. Glitter is one of those things.

It Looks So Good, But Is So Very Bad

Standard glitter can take hundreds of years to decompose. As we all know, there’s no such thing as cleaning up all the glitter; it’s a physical impossibility to do, so any excess glitter is going somewhere. That “somewhere” is eventually the waterways, polluting our water and posing a serious risk to marine life. Fortunately, since we crafters probably couldn’t live without glitter, there are a few alternatives we can use in place of traditional plastic glitters.

Colored Sugar

Colored sugar (that same stuff you sprinkle on those inedible holiday sugar cookies to try and convince your brain that they’re actually edible 😉 ) makes wonderful glitter. It sparkles very similarly to regular glitter, and any that you spill won’t matter, since it’s just sugar. You can even make your own with plain white sugar and food coloring if you can’t find the right color on the baking shelf.

Biodegradable Glitters

Now if colored sugars just don’t have the right look for for you, there are a few companies who make biodegradable glitter that biodegrade when exposed to soil or water. The glitters were originally created as body glitters, for those who just can’t resist making themselves shiny as well, but I’ve found they work well in craft project too! Eco Glitter Fun makes biodegradable glitter from cellulose film that is also cruelty free and vegan friendly (yup, all the good ones). Eco Stardust allows you to return the empty packaging your glitter came in when you order more, so the empty packaging can be recycled. And 10% of their profits got to charity and environmental causes. And BioGlitz makes their glitter from sustainably grown trees and don’t contain any GMO’s.

So ditch the glitter, but don’t ditch the sparkle. Choose an alternative and “shine responsibly” with some “guilt-free sparkles” for your projects.

By Amber Reifsteck, The Woodland Elf

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