I thought i read somewhere that the biggest consumers of glitter are the auto makers because it's in nearly all the paint.

Best guess seems to be Crest Toothpaste

https://www.dentalbuzz.com/2014/03/04/crest-imbeds-plastic-in-our-gums/

Damn, dude. I never even thought of synthetic fabrics as a source. Plastic is one of the worst things we could have ever made.

very good point

100% cotton gang on standby

The thing about glitter is, that it is often the waste from other processes cut up finely. You need those processes to use environmentally safe sheets of shiny paper.

There is.

For 15 times the price

one quick DDG search, first result: https://thegoodglitter.com/

Edible glitter already exists. I'd have to imagine that it is also biodegradable.

I find their suggestions for DIY glitter questionable, and I couldn't tell you if all the article's information is accurate, but Sustainable Jungle's evaluation of current biodegradable glitters is worth a read, if you're interested in glitter formulas.

Tl;dr There is active research into cellulose nanocrystals for glitter, which would still have some ecologically negative impacts, but otherwise everything on the market is likely greenwashing, to various degrees.

I'd be surprised if there is, seeing as glitter is made from plastic and aluminium

It's also apparently used in certain types of kitchen surfaces (quartz or granite if i'm not mistaken) to give them a sparkly finish, not too sure people would be happy to find their kitchen surfaces shine "biodegraded" and looking duller after half a century lol

Glitter is a novelty in every use case, though.

Polyester is too, but it's a substantial and noticeable difference and improvement (a milestone even) as a life comfort. Glitter is just nice to look at.

Ah so it's just tiny tiny little harmless microplastics. That shouldn't be of any concern... 😑

The concern is that glitter is smaller and harder to dispose of responsibly. It's likely to end up polluting the ground or the water, as opposed to something like a chair, which, having less surface area, and being disposed of as a whole piece after some decades, is not actually going to bleed that much.

unfortunately not.

from wiki: Modern glitter is usually manufactured from the combination of aluminum and plastic which is rarely recycled and finds its way into the aquatic habitats eventually becoming ingested by animals, leading some scientists to call for bans on plastic glitter.[8][9][10][11]