What are microbeads?
Microbeads are extremely small pieces of plastic found in cleansing products such as face scrubs and body washes. They act as exfoliating agents. Microbeads also add texture to other personal care products like toothpaste.
Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles and they are very small. They are less than five millimetres in their largest dimension. Microbeads are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be made of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene.
Out of sight out of mind?
Surely if microbeads are tiny, they cannot cause any harm right? Nothing could be further from the truth. They go down our drains and eventually end up in our lakes, rivers and oceans. Multiply that affect worldwide and this poses serious problems for our environment.
Microbeads are designed to get into hard to reach places. Once magnetically charged, for example, they can be attracted to the surface of certain types of cell or bacteria. Their size, their surface area and the sheer number of them makes microbeads a huge problem once they make it into marine ecosystems. Microbeads absorb toxins in the water and are eaten by marine life. They can then make their way back into our food chain and we may see those microbeads again…on our dinner plates!
2017 is the year for change
Here is the good news. There is change afoot. Governments around the world are planning a ban on microbeads from cosmetics including toothpaste, soap and body washes. Some brands have already moved to remove microbeads from their product ingredient lists. Others may need to phase out particular skin and body care products whilst they find appropriate, sustainable ingredient replacements. Many activated charcoal skin and body care products are already microbead free.
What can I do right now?
The cosmetic industry is in a state of change as brands phase out microbeads. In the meantime look out for these ingredients in your favourite activated charcoal skin and body care products and avoid them where possible:
polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and nylon
In all of our Product Reviews we list the full ingredient list for each activated charcoal skin and body care product reviewed. In the not too distant further, those Product Reviews will be devoid of microbead ingredients altogether. That’s a win for all of us and for the environment in which we live. C&B
Sources for this article and further reading:
http://storyofstuff.org/plastic-microbeads-ban-the-bead/
https://www.beatthemicrobead.org
https://intothegloss.com/2015/12/microbeads-in-beauty-products/
https://www.refinery29.com/2016/01/100202/microbeads-beauty-products-environmental-effects
Feature post image attribution https://www.5gyres.org/search?q=microbeads