Europe to ban microbeads

Andrea Varga-Darabos Europe to ban microbeads 26 September 2016 | 2 minute reading time

Despite all their pledges, retailers continue selling cosmetics jam-packed with tiny plastic beads. Used for the benefit of more effective cleansing, plastic beads are present in toothpastes, face washes, skin scrubs, shower gels, canals, lakes, the seas – and in all the living organisms that live in natural waters. And that’s how they end up on your plate and in your body too – without your knowing.

You can find them on the list of ingredients – they go by different names such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

They are cheap to make and thanks to their tiny size (they have a diameter smaller than a millimetre) they can be shipped in enormous quantities. They have almost limitless shelf life and there are more than a million of them in a single bottle. In 2015, more than 500 tons of polyethylene was poured into Germany’s natural waters as there’s simply no filter for these tiny bits of plastic. Since then, some manufacturers have indeed restricted or discontinued the production of microbead-containing cosmetics – yet the products are still available in just about any shop.

Following the lead of the US, the UK is the second country to consider a blanket ban of microbead products – a move that would make it impossible for the cosmetics industry to ignore their earlier pledges and continue the pollution of nature and natural waters.