Tops Day Nurseries group cracks down amid fears children’s favourite could be as harmful to environment as microbeads

Glitter, as anyone who has ever worn it knows, has a habit of turning up in unexpected places days later, even after a good scrub. However, a new peril has emerged from the sparkly substance: it is adding to the plastic pollution in our seas.

A group of nurseries in southern England has banned the use of glitter among its 2,500 children to reduce the amount of microplastics entering the seas.

Harriet Pacey, the business development director at Tops Day Nurseries, a 19-strong chain, said: “We want to do something we have control over.”

The nursery group’s views were backed up by scientific expertise. Alice Horton, research associate at the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, told the Guardian she was unaware of specific research on glitter but that it was likely to be found in similar places to other microplastics.

She said: “Glitter is absolutely a microplastic and has the same potential to cause harm as any other microplastic [including microbeads, the subject of a government ban].

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An exfoliating face wash containing microbeads. The tiny pieces of plastic contribute to aquatic pollution. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

“We all know that glitter can get everywhere and is highly likely to end up in the environment, either down the drain or by shedding from decorative items. So I think there’s no harm in banning it from nurseries for craft purposes given that its only purpose is ornamental.”

Horton was unsure whether banning the use of glitter in Christmas crafts would make a sizeable impact on the burden of plastic debris in the oceans, which Sir David Attenborough recently described as one of the greatest environmental scourges to befall the planet.

Horton said: “Reducing the use of glitter in general would reduce the amount of microplastics entering the environment so there is likely to be a benefit, in the same vein as banning microbeads.

“But, on a larger scale, I don’t know how easy it would be to ban glitter completely given its widespread use, not just in craft materials but also cosmetics.

“On a small scale, one nursery banning it is unlikely to have any environmental impact, but it’s a good environmental statement to make, like one person choosing not to buy bottled water to reduce plastic bottle waste. [It is] not going to change the world but [it] sets a target for others.”

The Health and Safety Executive told the Guardian it had no plans to restrict the use of glitter this Christmas. The nurseries’ ban does not extend to other festive accessories such as tinsel.