BPA and Phthalate-free packaging made from >50% Post-Consumer Recycled #2 plastic

What can you do to ensure that your sunscreen is safe for the marine environment and coral reefs?

• Use a sunscreen that does not have the ingredients shown to damage coral in Dr. Danovaro's research (see above). Badger sunscreens do not contain any of these ingredients.

• Use a sunscreen that is 'water resistant' or 'very water resistant'. This helps it to stay on your body and out of the water. Read about Badger sunscreen water resistance.

• Use a sunscreen that has been tested biodegradable. This claim is largely under regulated, so you may need to contact the company to verify their claim. This ensures that the product will break down in the environment. Read about Badger Sunscreen biodegradability.

• 'Reef safe' claims on sunscreen labels are unregulated and therefore potentially meaningless. You really have to look at the ingredients and judge for yourself.

Note: There is actually a "Reef Safe" test that can be performed on sunscreens, and we looked into it, but they test on fish, not coral. We called the Leaping Bunny Program, who certifies our products and cruelty free, and they told us that testing on fish goes against our pledge to not test on animals. We chose to forego this test, largely because it does not look at the effects on coral reefs, but we are investigating having our sunscreens tested on living coral in a laboratory setting.

Badger sunscreens contain no chemicals whatsoever** and they are tested water resistant and tested biodegradable. The only active ingredient, zinc oxide, is a powdered mineral that will settle to the seafloor within a few hours***, like silt, and become buried in the sediment. The base of our sunscreens (inactive ingredients that make up 80-88%) is made entirely of USDA Certified Organic plant oils, beeswax and vitamin E. These are all biodegradable and safe for any environment. You could even eat this stuff!