‘Microbeads’ an environmental disaster

Plastic exfoliants used in face scrubs and toothpastes called 'microbeads' are causing environmental concern and big business has agreed to help.

L'Oreal is one of the companies that will ban the use of microbeads after they were found to have devastating environmental effects. Pictured, Eva Longoria for L'Oreal. Source: Supplied

IT'S an unusual day when major companies usually in fierce competition with one another decide to cooperate on an issue.

But that's exactly what has happened in the US in a battle over "microbeads" — tiny bits of plastic used in personal care products such as facial scrubs and toothpaste that are flowing by the billions into the Great Lakes and other waterways in Illinois. Discovered only recently, they're showing up inside fish that are caught for human consumption, scientists say.

But instead of resisting a call to ban them, leading companies like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate, Unilever and L'Oreal have announced plans to replace microbeads with natural substances such as ground-up fruit pits, oatmeal and sea salt. Similar measures are underway in New York, California and Ohio as well as in the US Congress, in a rare compromise between groups that are often at each other's throats.

"To have that happen in one year is rare," said Jen Walling of the Illinois Environmental Council, recalling the pessimistic response when she initially sought legislative sponsors. "I was not predicting we'd get it done at all."

A kayaker takes a break Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois. Pic: Kiichiro Sato. Source: AP

Don't get used to it, said Mark Biel of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, which represented the product manufacturers during three months of negotiations. The quick deal resulted from unique circumstances, he said, including the availability of substitute ingredients.

"I just concluded that maybe this was one of those issues where it would be smart to try to work something out," he said.

Australian arms of Colgate and Unilever are yet to respond to requests for comment.

Disagreements over details are delaying similar bills in California and New York, while a measure in Ohio has gained little traction. Still, all sides expect deals in most cases, and that given those states' outsized place in the market, microbeads will disappear from US products as the industry swallows the cost. It's hoped a US wide ban will take effect in 2018 and environmentalists hope the collaborative experience carries over to other debates like the use of flame retardants.

It's been known for years that the world's oceans teem with masses of floating plastic. But microplastics in the Great Lakes were discovered only when scientists dragged the surface of all five lakes in 2012 and 2013 with specially designed nets and found the specks everywhere.

Barely visible without a microscope, the bits flow through wastewater treatment plant screens and into the lakes.

Toothpaste is one of the products that has microbeads in it. Pictured: a scene from a Johnson & Johnson advertisement. Source: News Limited

Sherri Mason, an environmental scientist with State University of New York-Fredonia who was a leader of the research team, said the beads are showing up the stomachs of Great Lakes perch and in fish-eating birds like the double-crested cormorant. Her group is studying whether the particles are absorbing toxins in the lakes.

Because treated wastewater flows into so many waterways, Mason said, "Every river and every inland lake you look at is going to have some plastic in it."

The plastic exfoliants apparently came into widespread use in the 1990s, preferred because they are smoother to the skin than natural ingredients. Laurent Gilbert, director of advanced research at L'Oreal, said they have "no proven environmental toxicity."

Models backstage at the L'Oreal Professional show in Turkey. Picture: Getty. Source: Getty Images

The industry has yet to endorse a California bill that wouldn't make an exception for biodegradable microbeads, which the industry says are on the drawing board. A ban has unanimously passed New York's state Assembly, but is awaiting Senate action while the industry pushes for a slower timetable. The measure would prohibit most cosmetics with microbeads by 2016. The Illinois phase-out is more gradual, running from 2017 to the end of 2019.

The companies say that it can take years to develop new mixtures and get them to market.

But with microbeads apparently on their way out, ban supporters say the lesson is that public pressure can pay off.

"People say, 'Wait, there's plastic in my face wash? In my toothpaste?"' said Mason, who teamed with the California-based organisation 5 Gyres on the research. "They understand innately that this isn't right and ... industry definitely responds. When we put our minds to something we can make it happen."

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