Losing or breaking one of those cheapy little drugstore hair ties might feel like no big deal, because you can just get a whole new pack for a buck or two. But have you thought about what actually happens to those things once they’re out of your life and floating around in the environment?

The unfortunate answer is that each of those hair ties being lost or tossed into landfills — and there are countless of them around the world every single day — will sit there for 500+ years before their synthetic materials even begin to break down. All the while, they could be mistakenly consumed by marine life or land animals. Feels bad to know that.

Thankfully, there are companies trying to solve this problem by developing eco-conscious hair ties. For example, Terra Ties look just like the ones you’ve been buying for years, but they’re a plastic-free alternative made instead from organic cotton and natural rubber, and colored with natural dyes. Even the packaging is made from 100% recycled materials.

Now you can style your hair without making the environment suffer, and the cotton material has this super soft, natural feel that the cheap plastic ones can never match. Combine this with the fact that they’re also slightly longer/wider than typical ties, and you’ll find you can wear one on your wrist all day without any discomfort. They’re pretty awesome all around.

Get a pack of 27 Terra Ties for $15 on Amazon.