There is always a bit of a tension in my mind about being environmentally responsible, vs being a smelly hippy. Admittedly, the amount I fly probably negates every attempt to do anything else, but I can be a bit catholic about it and try and buy favour by doing little things.
For a few years now I’ve been searching for cotton buds with paper sticks. It struck me that it was crazy to use a plastic stick. I’m not sure what the motivation to find a biodegadable stick is; to go off grid so I don’t need to deal with council lunatics, or to increase the efficiency of our sewerage system (ps, don’t flush your cotton buds, it’s bad), or if it is a fluffy desire to just save the poor fish from having to eat little sticks of pe or making pastel pick-up-sticks mountains in landfill.
Anyway, I found the perfect thing at muji, paper sticks, corn starch packets, and a flat pack that goes in my case really well. All hail japanese cosmetic wizzardry. The good news for lazy people is that you can now get paper sticks on co-op and marks &spencer cotton buds (albeit without the biodegadable outer packaging) so there is no excuse other than discognia or being a bad person for cleaning out your lug-oles with a plastic stick!