A Redditor showed the world a photo of someone's exorbitant collection of lip products, sparking quite a bit of conversation on social media.
The image was posted on the Reddit community r/Anticonsumption, which says "Consumerism Kills" on its description page.
"Thank god for that maybelline super-stay and 35 other lip products in the same shade," the Redditor wrote with a glint of irony.
The picture shows a pile of glass and plastic makeup tubes with the text "Lip products I can't live without" over it.
Consumerism has become the hallmark of many modern societies today, and the cosmetics industry, which is worth approximately $300 billion, has benefited greatly from it.
When it comes to its environmental impact, the beauty industry definitely has an ugly side. For one, it produces 120 billion units of packaging every year around the world, a very small percentage of which actually gets recycled.
🗣️ Which eco-friendly initiative would make you most likely to buy products from a clean beauty brand?
🔘 Using less plastic packaging 🗑️
🔘 Using more organic ingredients 🌿
🔘 Recycling empty containers 🫙
🔘 I don't buy clean beauty products 🚫
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
In fact, from the time large-scale plastic production began in 1950 until this moment, only around 9% of the world's plastic has actually been recycled, per the Plastic Pollution Coalition. The rest has gone into landfills or has ended up in our oceans and waterways, harming aquatic animals and even ending up in our bodies.
And plastic isn't going away anytime soon since it can take hundreds of years to degrade.
The cosmetics industry doesn't seem to be going anywhere either and is expected to grow to over $560 billion by 2030.
One thing makeup lovers can do is reduce their consumption while doing their best to avoid wasting makeup, and there are hacks that can definitely help with this.
People had plenty to say about the picture in the post.
"It's the result of intentional manipulation by powerful companies," one person wrote.
Another pointed out that "unfortunately, the drive to purchase 35 nearly-identical lipsticks is largely the result of marketing."
One woman added that she wears makeup but said she has "maybe 5 or 6 items in my makeup bag and I use them until they're gone (which takes months). I will NEVER understand people who feel the need to hoard makeup like this."
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