The Environmental Impacts of Cotton Swab Manufacturing

Since the swabs of Q-Tips are made up of cotton, one of the environmental impacts of manufacturing them in huge quantities throughout the year is that it makes use of tens if not hundreds of millions of paper or plastic sticks for the rod holding the cotton swab. Apparently, the paper sticks are generally manufactured from trees, thereby posing the threat to the environment in terms of trees being cut down solely for the purpose of turning them into small paper rods.

On the other hand, plastic Q-Tips rods disposed by the millions can eventually form into a massive heap of plastic garbage when combined altogether. Since these are made up of non-biodegradable material, there is an urgent need to recycle the plastic Q-Tips rods so that they will not pose more significant threats to the environment. Even though there are hazardous chemicals involved in the manufacture of Q-Tips, they can still pollute the environment especially when they are improperly disposed and recycled.

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The plastic rods of Q-Tips may be small but when all of the Q-Tips in the world are taken together they can turn into one massive garbage problem. Apparently, the rod of Q-Tips should be made as a renewable resource that can be recycled over and over for a long cycle of production and consumption. The fact that the rod is made of plastic indicates that manufacturers of Q-Tips should take advantage of recycling disposed plastic rods or any used plastic material and making use of them as recycled plastic rods for Q-Tips.

Q-Tips are first manufactured in the factories, packaged and delivered to their clients such as supermarkets. The buying public purchases these items from their local stores and later on use them in their homes for different purposes such as for personal hygiene or cleaning the small parts of home appliances. Reference Q-Tips. (2009). Retrieved from http://qtips. com March 8, 2009.