This Party Favorite is Hazardous to New England Marine Life

I'm horrified.

I did not know that one of my favorite things in my whole life, glitter, could be hazardous to marine life.  I should have known, but now I truly know.

Not only do I work at The Shark, but I have a particular affinity for all water creatures that live in our oceans, so it was very disheartening to know that glitter does not break down, according to the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Life in Portsmouth. It never truly goes away.  Marine life see this shiny piece in their waters and thinks to themselves, and I'm paraphrasing here, "GEE, that looks wicked yummy.  I think I'm going to eat that shiny looking piece of something."  Then they actually eat it and it's toxic of course and I'm assuming they could die.

The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Life in Portsmouth does offer an alternative to traditional glitter because, seriously... A life without glitter is just not worth living to me, so, they offer a few alternatives such as sand glitter, salt glitter or colored rice.  I like the colored rice option!  You can add a bunch of food coloring and BAM, there you have bio-degradable glitter.  The article also suggests using a paper hole punch to create paper confetti.  Who hasn't spilled the paper holes by accident.... now we have a use for them at parties!

I worry about how much trash we put in to our oceans, so whenever I can, I try to use bio-degradable everything.  Just this past year, I put in a new water system at my house, which cost a pretty penny mind you, so we wouldn't use single use plastic bottles anymore.  It's worth it if it's going to save those delicious sea creatures that I love to look at and eat.