6 picks · vetted plastic-free
The best plastic-free sunscreen
Mineral sunscreens in aluminum tins, aluminum tubes and paper push-up sticks. Every pick uses zinc oxide, one of the two filters the FDA proposes to recognize as safe and effective.
Almost every sunscreen sells in a squeeze tube or a spray can with a plastic cap, and even the ones marketed as eco-friendly often ship in sugarcane-resin tubes, which are still plastic. The brands that skip plastic all make thick zinc oxide balms and sticks, which hold up in a tin or a cardboard tube where a runny lotion would leak.
Zinc oxide sits on top of the skin and blocks UV physically. The FDA has proposed that zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are the two sunscreen filters with enough evidence to be called generally recognized as safe and effective. Where a maker's broad-spectrum claim goes further than its FDA drug label, we say so in the listing.
Daily Face Moisturizer SPF 30 in Aluminum Tube
Lips too
Hurraw packs its balm in a paper push-up tube, so the stick you carry in a pocket needs no plastic either. It carries no SPF, so put a mineral stick on your lips first on long days outside.
Common questions
- Is there a sunscreen that doesn't come in plastic?
- Yes. Raw Elements and Stream2Sea sell zinc balms in aluminum tins, Utu uses an aluminum tube, and Avasol and ATTITUDE make sticks in paperboard push-up tubes. All of them are mineral formulas built on zinc oxide.
- Are sugarcane sunscreen tubes plastic free?
- No. Sugarcane resin is polyethylene made from plant sugar in place of oil, and it is chemically the same plastic. Stream2Sea's SPF 30 lotion tubes are sugarcane resin, which is why we list its SPF 40 tin.
- Are plastic-free sunscreens water resistant?
- Some are. Raw Elements, Avasol and the Stream2Sea tin all carry an 80-minute water resistance direction on their labels. ATTITUDE says its SPF 30 stick isn't water resistant, so save it for days on land.
- Why are plastic-free sunscreens all mineral?
- Every brand we found making sunscreen in tins or paper tubes uses non-nano zinc oxide. Zinc formulas are thick enough to sit in a tin or a push-up stick, and zinc oxide is one of the two filters the FDA has proposed to call safe and effective.
- How do I recycle a sunscreen tin or tube?
- Raw Elements says to recycle the empty tin with other aluminum. Utu says its tubes, caps and boxes go in paper and aluminum recycling. Wipe out leftover balm first so the metal gets sorted cleanly.