Meet the 10-Year-Old Girl Who Started Her Own Biodegradable, Vegan Glitter Company to Protect the Oceans!

If you follow the news about plastics’ impact on the environment, chances are you are well acquainted with the issue of microplastics and the insidious ways in which they manage to pollute ecosystems and enter organisms (even us). But many of us do not realize that microplastics include a kind of material that just seems too fun to be anything but innocent – glitter. “Traditional” glitter is made up of plastic and aluminum bonded with polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which means that, although pretty and colorful, it is also quite literally made of heaps and heaps of tiny pieces of plastic. We all know how hard it is to clean stray glitter off tables and floors – but can you imagine the kind of impact it can have in a marine environment? Not good.

While this news might put a damper on some of our bedazzling fun, the good news is we do not have to live entirely glitter-free lives. In fact, 10-year-old Sofia Rizzo, founder of Glitter Girl, an international cruelty-free makeup brand, is making glitter that is just as sparkly as any other, plus it has the added benefits of being vegan, biodegradable, and hypo-allergenic.

The young entrepreneur from Australia told Beach City that she came up with the idea while on vacation in Hawaii.

When her mother asked her what kind of business she would want to own, although so young, Sofia said that the idea of selling glitter was something she had been thinking about for a long time.

First, Sofia sold the idea to her classmates who turned out to be great clients. But, as it turned out, these were just the very first steps in the business, and almost six months after Glitter Girl’s launch in October 2017, Sofia’s parents both cut back on their full-time jobs to help Support their daughter’s business, The Daily Mail reports. The company has even hired full-time staff to keep up with the demand!

Glitter Girl glitter is made up of “a biodegradable film made from trees, primarily eucalyptus, sourced from responsibly managed plantations” and it is “certified compostable.” When this new and endlessly improved glitter gets washed down the drain, you don’t have to worry about it going on pollute the waterways forever.

Traditional glitter “is not so glitzy for Mother Earth,” the company says, but Sofia’s alternative is – and it is inspiring to see her dedication to making something sparkly, fun, and great for our planet, all at the same time.

You can buy the glitter, makeup, and more in the Glitter Girl online store.

If you’re as concerned about the state of the oceans as we are and want to take action, why not consider removing other forms of unnecessary plastics from your life? To learn more about how you can reduce your personal plastic usage, check out One Green Planet’s #CrushPlastic campaign!

All image source: glittergirl.au/Instagram