5. Iridescent, Irresistible, Inescapable
Glitter is everywhere. No, literally. Not just in your sparkly tank top, or party decorations, or your hair after an arts and crafts accident. The glitter we know and love, known as decorative glitter, it’s often sprinkled on paper, canvas, and other materials to jazz up artwork, greeting cards, or scrapbooks. You’ll see it on clothes, shoes, and accessories, especially for costumes or special occasions, where it’s glued or sewn in for some extra shine. Glitter’s a big hit in home decor too, where people use it on things like picture frames, vases, and ornaments to add a little glam to their space. Around the holidays, glitter shows up on Christmas ornaments, wreaths, and stockings to give everything a festive sparkle. In the beauty world, it’s used in makeup—think eyeshadows, nail polish, and body glitter—to create a fun, shiny effect for parties or events. It’s also popular for party decorations like banners, balloons, and cake toppers, making everything feel more celebratory.
Glitter even makes its way into food, adding a fun, sparkly touch to dishes and drinks. Edible glitter is used to decorate cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other desserts, giving them a fancy, Instagram-worthy shine. It's also popular for drinks, where it’s added to cocktails, mocktails, and even lattes to make them shimmer. You might see it in chocolate, ice cream, or candies, especially during special occasions like birthdays, weddings, or holidays, to make them feel extra celebratory. The glitter used in food is made from food-safe ingredients, often mica-based or made from starch, so it’s safe to eat. It’s the perfect way to add a little sparkle to your treats and make them stand out!
Oh, did I say food? I meant more than just human food: scientists often use glitter to monitor animals' digestive systems. Several different colours of glitter are used to track fecal samples, and in two specific polar bears at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, glitter is added to ground horse meat and then fed to the animals. Each bear is assigned its own color so that zoo keepers know which poop belongs to which bear. Zoo keepers collect samples from each bear to track what's going on in their bodies. The droppings are collected from the time they are first brought to the zoo until they reach sexual maturity. The samples gathered are used to track levels of stress hormones in the bears as they adjust to life at the zoo.
Moreover, glitter is so precisely cut that it’s been utilized by the United States government since it’s inception. Today, it is use in forensic investigations, military camouflage testing, space simulations, and to prevent counterfeiting. This is all due to the unique properties of glitter, such as how it reflects light, interacts with surfaces, and sticks to clothing. Now, the obvious question after all of this information is where does all of that glitter go once it is done being used? As we’ve learned, glitter is primarily made of microplastics, which are a huge part of global pollution. Glitter waste is no small issue, and by taking a look at it through the lens of political ecology, it reveals some startling conclusions. One thing is for sure, though: glitter is just as reluctant to leave your clothes as it is society.
