woman's hand writing address on envelope

Letter Asking for Plastic-Free Sunscreen

Week 22

This week I learned that conventional sunscreen is harmful for the environment, especially marine life. There are a few low-waste and reef safe sunscreen options, however it's not enough to for us to stop using environmentally harmful sunscreen; companies must be held accountable and stop producing it all together.

Popular sunscreen brand, Sun Bum, has already worked to make reef-safe products, but this week's letter requests that they phase out plastics and offer a plastic-free sunscreen option. Use this template to write to your favorite sunscreen brand.

Good afternoon,

Hey my name is Ali, and Sun Bum suncreen is always my family's go-to since your products are reef-safe and cruelty free. This year, I’m making a conscious change to reduce my carbon footprint and I’ve started to notice how much waste I’ve been contributing to our earth. This includes waste from your plastic sunscreen containers.

I’m writing to see if you’ll consider making a more environmentally friendly sunscreen container. I know your plastic bottles can be recycled, but that feels like a temporary solution since the EPA has reported that only 8% of plastics are actually recycled. The rest end up in landfills, where they will take hundreds of years to break down, or in our waterways, where they break down into microplastics that cause 100,000 marine animal deaths every year. In fact, it’s estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

I’m aware that nothing can happen overnight, but at least working towards phasing out plastics would be a huge step in the right direction. Perhaps you could look into package free sunscreen bars, infinitely recyclable glass bottles, or metal tins.

It's no secret that plastics have become increasingly problematic and our earth is suffering from the exorbitant amount of waste produced by humans. More and more people are becoming aware of these issues and working towards a brighter, cleaner future for the next generation, so I'm certain your consumers would be thrilled to see Sun Bum take a stand in protecting our environment.

Thank you for your time,

Ali Hall

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