Finished a tube of mascara? Before you throw away that plastic wand you might want to consider doing something more environmentally-friendly with it – like sendng it to an animal charity who can give it a second lease of life.
Small-bristled brushes are apparently the perfect tool for cleaning and comforting injured wildlife including birds, rabbits, small rodents and baby fawns, according to ARC – an animal rescue centre in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
The mini brush replaces the grooming they would receive from parents.
ARC was thrown into the spotlight after making an appeal on social media for people to wash their old brushes and post them in a ziploc bag.
When they arrived at the centre they would be used to remove oil, larvae, fly eggs, mites and mud from baby rabbits and pigeons – the first to benefit from the scheme.
But the appeal has been so successful that the centre says it now has “more wands than Hogwarts” and has temporarily halted its plea.
Wands have been donated from as far afield as Australia and America.
Posting on their Facebook page, ARC said: “So many people have contacted us from all around the globe – how fantastic to have so much support for wildlife and for re-using items destined for landfill.
“We hope we can secure a recycling facility for our used wands, and once we have this set up, we will post details of where they can be sent. The less plastic in our seas/landfill, the better!”
ARC told HuffPost UK they will be starting a new campaign shortly and hope in the future to be a drop off point for distribution to other UK rescue centres around the country.
Perhaps other wildlife centres could follow suit.