You use them to clean your ears, remove excess eye makeup, apply medication to wounds, and more. They may be small, but they’re very much handy. Cotton buds, ear buds, cotton swabs, or Q-tips have become staple medical or hygiene products at home.

Cotton buds were invented back in the 1920s by Polish-born American Leo Gerstenzang. Since then, cotton buds are found in many homes, clinics, and medical institutions. Even though cotton buds’ physical makeup are quite elementary (a stick with a swab of cotton at each opposite end), their stems can either be plastic or paper. The question now is which is better – plastic or paper?

Call it odd if you want, but you’d notice that there is quite a difference between cotton buds with plastic stems and those with paper stems. Plastic stems tend to be more flexible, allowing the stem to bend while cleaning the ear. Paper stems, on the other hand are sturdier.

However, it’s not the feel, the sturdiness, or the flexibility that spells the difference between the plastic and paper stems. It’s the chemical makeup. You may have heard about the eco-debate paper vs. plastic. You know very well that plastic products do not disintegrate. They’re non-biodegradable, so the environment and the future generations to come are the ones suffering for them. The sad thing is, some people just used cotton buds down the toilet. As a result, used cotton buds became the second most common trash washed up in a lot of beaches. That means that even though a lot of people may have clean ears, the environment may be pretty filthy because of it.

So to answer the question which one is better? Well, you already know the answer.