The Appalachian Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina, who are dedicated to taking care of injured and orphaned animals, have launched an initiative named ‘Wands For Wildlife.’ The idea came about when workers realised that the plastic beauty tools are great for cleansing and grooming small animals. It is an idea that has blossomed worldwide!
Re-purposing your old make up brushes that would have just ended up in landfill whilst helping out the smaller creatures being cared for in wildlife refuges all over the world. The appeal kicked off when Appalachian Wild's co-founder took to Facebook to urge the public to send in their old mascara brushes. The pubic turned up in their thousands, and before long, people from 40 different states had flooded the charity with donations.To date, they have received more than 11,400 wands, and have just started a 'Wands for Wildlife' program where the public can send in their donations.
The wildlife refuge workers use the wands to do everything from removing fly eggs and larva from feathers and fur of wild animals and grooming an area on an animal to remove dust, dirt, sand and sawdust, to assisting the wildlife refuge workers in examining for injuries and finally, cleaning the syringes used for feeding animals. Even those with sensitive fur don't mind these being used.
To stop a build up of bacteria in your mascara you would ideally change your mascara every three months (please don't buy new ones to send as that defeats the object of recycling products that would end up as waste)' What to do with your old wands;
Save/collect mascara wands.
Clean your old wands with warm soapy water.
Print out the form from their website.
*Mail wands and form in!
*You’re responsible for shipping fee
More information on where to send them from the 'Wands for Wildlife' program; https://www.appalachianwild.org/wands-for-wildlife.html
For those in the UK, please post mascara wands to: The New Arc, Nether Auquhadlie, Auchnagatt, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, AB41 8UW.