Children to be banned from using glitter at nurseries due to harm it does to environment

‘Tis the season to be jolly – but not if it involves glitter, according to the head of a nursery school group who has banned it due to the harm it does to the environment.

 The substance, which is popular for making homemade Christmas cards and decorations, has this year been banished from a chain of 19 nurseries across the south of England.

Cheryl Hadland, the managing director of Tops Day Nurseries, said she decided to ban glitter after realising that it is a microplastic which does “terrible damage” to nature.

While it may be tempting to allow toddlers to use glitter for Christmas themed arts and crafts classes, she explained that it does far more harm than good in the long-run as it is “wrecking” their futures.

"You can see when the children are taking their bits of craft home and there's glitter on the cardboard, it blows off and into the air and on to the road,” Ms Hadland told the Press Association.

“It's only a tiny little bit, but we've got 3,000 children and they're all doing Christmas craft at the moment, so we've got glitter everywhere.”

Ms Hadland, who has been running nurseries for almost three decades, added: "There are 22,000 nurseries in the country, so if we're all getting through kilos and kilos of glitter, we're doing terrible damage, and these children, the world is for them.

"So here we are wrecking the place for them, and I didn't even know. I had no idea that we were doing all that damage. You can't really recycle it because it's so small, you can't separate it from anything."

Ms Hadland said she believes parents who send their children to her nursery schools are likely to be supportive of the ban, since a recent survey found that the vast majority want their child’s education to be eco-sustainable.

Ms Hadland, from Bournemouth, acknowledged that it is a shame to be doing away with glitter, but added: “When we're wrecking the environment we really can't be doing it. So we're just going to have to start getting our heads round using stuff that's more sustainable."

Sue Kinsey of the Marine Conservation Society praised the "proactive approach" of Tops Day Nurseries.

"The majority of microplastics that get into the sea come from personal care products, household cleaners, tyre wear and other sources," she said. "While glitter is only a small part of the microplastic load getting into watercourses and the sea, steps like these will all add up to something greater.

"This is a very proactive approach, amongst lots of things that the nursery is doing to help the environment, like using cloth aprons and not releasing balloons outdoors, and it is definitely possible to create a Christmas card to take home without using glitter."

Other ways to enjoy an eco-friendly Christmas include using LED fairy lights and saving Christmas Dinner leftovers to use as compost, according to the Carbon Trust which advises on how to cut down on their carbon emissions.

According to their most recent list of Christmas tips, they also advise people to use an artificial Christmas tree and turn down the heating, since “Friends and family crowded in a room, as well as an oven switched on for hours make your home warmer than usual.”