Have you ever poured some exfoliator into the palm of your hand and noticed tiny, hard beads? Yeah? Those little, seemingly harmless, beads are destroying our oceans.
Microbead’s are found in hundreds of skincare products such as; body washes, soaps, toothpastes and exfoliators. They are usually the part of the product which serves to exfoliate your skin. These tiny particles of plastic wash off of our skin, go down the drain and wash into our oceans and rivers. Because they are so small (size varies from a millimetre to smaller than the diameter of a strand of hair), there isn’t a way of regulating these beads, and water treatment systems do not filter these beads out.
I first came across the microbead in one of the first exfoliators that I used. Completely oblivious to the materials which they are made of and consequences that these beads have on the environment, I thought they were a blessing to my skin— scrubbing it to its smooth glory.
Microbeads can vary in the plastic material that they are made up of, and can include; polyethylene, polypropylene terephthalate (PET), polymethlyl methacrylate (PMMA), or nylon.
Microbeads aren’t only added in products to act as an exfoliator, they are added as a bulking ingredient, for the controlled release of active ingredients, and to prolong shelf life of products.
Companies use microbeads because they are smooth in texture. They are abrasive with less of a consequence of causing micro tears in your skin.
I don’t think you’d want to eat some plastic, would you? Well I’ve got some news for you buddy; because these beads make it past water treatment systems and wash right into our oceans, there’s a chance that the sushi you ate the other day consumed plenty of microbeads… YUM… NOT! Marine life consume these Microparticles (innocent fish and little turtles eat plankton, these little guys can mistake microbeads for some food!). Think of the food chain, once these beads are consumed, there’s no going back. Micro beads also absorb toxins, which could be released into these animals after consumption.
Plastics take hundreds, if not thousands of years to decompose. Microbeads are not biodegradable, making it impossible to remove.
Australia has banned the manufacturing and selling of products that contain microbeads, along with U.K, Canada, USA and France. Currently, there is an organisation called “Beat the Bead” that was created to raise awareness about the Microbead, have a look at what they’re all about here.
DermaRose 