Mineral suncare business owners with a passion for the environment are getting excited for when Maui County’s sunscreen ordinance takes effect this week, another push toward protecting the offshore marine habitats.

The law, which was passed unanimously by the Maui County Council last year, will go into effect on Saturday banning the sale, distribution and use of nonmineral sunscreens without a prescription issued by a licensed health care provider.

“We are so pleased to see this bill go into effect. Many large companies are known to ‘greenwash’ but in actuality are full of toxic chemicals,” said Jenna Davis, owner of Raw Love Sunscreen. “This bill will make it so many of those products will stay out of our water and off of our skin. However, it is still consumers’ responsibility to read all of the inactive ingredients as well.”

Chemicals in some sunscreens, such as octinoxate, octocrylene and oxybenzone, can wash off while a person is swimming, which can harm coral reefs and other marine wildlife, according to the bill. Nonmineral sunscreen and lotions are also harmful to humans and can lead to birth defects caused by Hirschsprung’s disease, the bill said.

A 2019 study published in Reproductive Toxicology that analyzed human exposure to oxybenzone from sunscreen found that enough chemical can cross into the mother’s blood and make it available to the fetus. The study was authored by retired scientist and toxicologist Joe DiNardo and Craig Downs, executive director of the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory in Virginia, both of whom have advised the county in recent years on sunscreen legislation.

Considering how important reefs are to the underwater ecosystem, as well as in buffering against waves, storms and floods, which helps prevent property damage, erosion and loss of life, the County Council has been pushing forward with this bill for a few years.

“We must remove the significant ecological stressor of nonmineral sunscreens from our marine environment,” Council Member Kelly King, who holds the South Maui residency seat and championed the sunscreen bill, said in a news release last week. “This ordinance is one important step to protect our coral reefs, which provide the first defense against erosion from sea-level rise, and are critically important for biodiversity, recreation, food sources and our tourism industry.”

According to the county, the first line of defense in protecting skin against the sun is avoiding peak times — between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — and seeking shade, as well as wearing protective clothing such as hats, long-sleeved shirts and sunglasses or rash guards and wetsuits in the water.

But, when choosing sunscreen products for additional protection, it’s crucial for the environment that the ingredients list contain natural minerals.

“The ocean is suffering from many environmental stressors, such as pollution, runoff and global warming,” said Davis, who’s also an avid PADI dive master and SNUBA instructor. “Using mineral sunscreen is simple and effective and one easy way to protect the coral reef. We all have the ability as consumers to make small changes in our everyday life that can have a large impact on the greater well-being of our fragile ecosystem.”

Founded in 2015 on Maui, Raw Love Sunscreen’s products, including SPF sticks and SPF lip balms, contain organic ingredients like cold-pressed unrefined coconut oil, raw shea butter, non-nano zinc oxide and beeswax.

Since last year, the small company has made “massive strides,” Davis said. Sales have jumped 78 percent.

Matt Roomet, founder of Maui-based mineral suncare company Project Reef, said the company was maybe at “the right place at the right time” when the chemical bans in sunscreens started coming out.

“With our official launch in March, we have seen nothing but growth, but it has not come short of hard work and strong local support,” Roomet said. “We have seen strong demand from retailers for clean and sustainable products in general. The world is ready for products and brands to go beyond buzzwords and marketing statements and to start making positive change.”

Though Project Reef only launched earlier this year, Roomet said that practicing not using chemicals in SPF products is something that they have been pushing for pre-legislation.

“Having this bill has definitely helped elevate consciousness on reef-safe products and has ignited healthy conversation on sustainability across the country — something we are very happy to be a part of,” he added.

To continue promoting environmentally friendly sunscreens, the council last week voted to allow the county to enter into an agreement with the Maui Visitors and Convention Bureau to place reef-safe sunscreen dispensers at county beach parks and other locations around the island.

This would give beachgoers easy access to mineral sunscreens containing zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which are the only active ingredients in sunscreens generally recognized as safe and effective by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, King said.

Foodland Hawaii Communications Director Sheryl Toda said Friday that the company is in the process of removing nonmineral sunscreens “from our shelves at our Maui stores, and are updating our sets with mineral-only sunscreens to be in compliance with the ban when it goes into effect on Oct. 1, 2022.”

The county Department of Environmental Management is responsible for administering the new prohibitions. The sale, distribution or use of prohibited nonmineral sunscreens will be considered a violation of the Maui County Code.

Any fines will support the county Environmental Protection and Sustainability Fund, but enforcement agencies will focus on educating the public rather than imposing penalties, King said.

Hawaii County implemented the same ordinance, which goes into effect Dec. 1.

“We know this bill is going to create a trickling effect to the other islands and eventually the Mainland and other countries,” Roomet said. “Hawaii carries a lot of heart and environmental passion that is admired by many. That being said, we think that this switch is going to create big waves and mineral suncare movement is here to stay.”

For more information, visit www.mauicounty.gov/2483/Mineral-Only-Sunscreen-Maui-County or contact the Office of Council Services at (808) 270-8008.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.