Nature Blog Network Future Earth: Curse of the cotton buds

Friday 11 April 2008

Curse of the cotton buds

Ah, the appeal of foaming brine. A lovely swim, secure in the knowledge that the salt content disinfects all the sanitary detritus and sewage?

The annual UK beach clean up organised by the Marine Conservation Society shows that cotton buds (minus the cotton - where has that ended up?) are an increasing proportion of the detritus washing up on our increasingly rubbished beaches. A mounting mix of "pick-a-sticks" for us to play with.

http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/pages/press_releases.php

"Bin them", they say "so they are properly disposed of". Of course, but this increases landfill. Maybe, just maybe, we could do without them at all?

1 comment:

martin said...

You're right - we don't need them. Just wash your ears in the bath and dry them when you get out! Plus, cotton buds can be dangerous as they push earwax back into the external auditory canal (sure), which can cause wax plugs to develop... bad!