When should choose compostable products over recyclable products? It’s confusing, so we asked the professionals at ReRoute America to clear up the issue.
In the effort to achieve or, at least, move the bar on a sustainable scale, many restaurants and hotels offer their guests beverages in Compostable plastic cups. The appearance (nice plastic cup with green leaves and wording highlighting it is compostable) gives the guest a feeling that they are contributing to the effort to rid the planet of single-use plastics. But in the case of most Florida businesses using the PLA Compostable cups, they are doing more harm than good.
In order for a compostable cup to actually compost, it has to be collected in a separate bio bag and brought to an industrial composting facility. There are only eight of these in the entire United States and the closest to Florida? North Carolina.
Unfortunately, these cups can’t be recycled and if thrown in a landfill (which they usually are) they will sit there for hundreds of years. Recyclable cups have a better chance of being recycled and reused in most parts of the country.
ReRoute Americas is a seller and distributor of sustainable products for the Restaurant and Hospitality Industries. By offering products such as straws, cutlery, cups and to-go containers made from the byproducts of such plants as the Agave Plant, the Sugarcane Plant or from recycled materials our mission is to lessen the environmental impact on our planet by avoiding single-use plastics.
In addition to our mission, our goal is also to inform and educate the industries we serve on the best way to promote a sustainable environment inside of their properties. By making sure our customers and in turn, their guests, understand when to use compostable products versus recycled products and how these products respond to certain factors, such as heat and water, we can start to move the needle in a positive direction and responsibly promote sustainability.
How to Treat Melasma, According to Top Skin Expert
Cristina Lévon
As the seasons shift, a majority of women will find melasma, the pigmentation disorder, has returned during the last few months of summer. Melasma is a pesky, chronic skin discoloration triggered by a variety of factors: hormone fluctuations, pregnancy, oral contraceptives, exposure to excessive sun, heat, or plain old genetics. Getting rid of melasma is almost impossible; it never really goes away.
However, there are various internal and external options to treat melasma and keep it under control—including a strict skincare routine that cuts out unnecessary exposure to heat and sun. (Discipline in relation to sun protection is always a key factor, as anyone with this condition will tell you. Even after months of successfully keeping hyperpigmentation at bay, it takes only an hour without a hat under the sun to have it all reappear again.)
Cristina Lévon deems it imperative to not only treat the symptoms, but also to find and prevent the underlying causes that bring on discoloration, then work to prohibit hyperpigmentation from returning in the future.
“My favorite treatment option for melasma is a peel called Cosmelan MD,” Cristina, an medical aesthetician better known as“The NAPLES Aesthetician” said. “Instead of working on just the surface appearance of the skin like traditional chemical peels, this peel works at a cellular level to actually stop the overactive melanocytes responsible for the melasma. Cosmelan is a pigment-inhibiting peel that works by slowing melanin production while accelerating cell turnover to lift dark patches from the skin. I generally recommend this peel for melasma sufferers one or two times a year.”
“This is a compound applied to the skin and left on as a mask for eight - twelve hours. Clients can expect redness, flaking, and sensitivity for two weeks, and clients can see improvement in their pigment in just seven days. Lasting results are dependent on the client’s skincare routine and lifestyle post-treatment. Because there is no cure for melasma, clients should be on a long-term pigment-inhibiting routine between Cosmelan treatments, and products should include tyrosinase-inhibiting ingredients such as vitamin C, kojic acid, azelaic acid, tranexamic acid, hydroquinone and arbutin. Besides the religious use of SPF every single day, clients need to maintain a lifestyle that keeps them out of direct sun exposure and heat. Saunas, jacuzzis, and hot yoga should be avoided at all costs, since heat is a major contributing factor for melasma.”