Tiny particles of plastic have been added to thousands of personal care cosmetic products sold around the world. These microbead plastics, hardly visible to the naked eye, flow straight from the bathroom drain into the sewer system. Wastewater treatment plants are not designed to filter them out microbeads and that is the main reason why they contribute to the Plastic Soup swirling around the world’s oceans. Sea animals absorb or eat microplasticsbeads. These microbeads are passed along the marine food chain. Since humans are ultimately at the top of this food chain, it is likely that we are also ingest them. absorbing microbeads from the food we eat. Microplasticsbeads are not biodegradable and once they enter the marine environment, they are impossible to remove.
Read more here : https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/
We need to act NOW and all stop using these products and stop purchasing them. There are big campaigns to stop the manufacturers from using them but some still do so we need to boycott those brands and stop purchasing products that contain microbeads.
Microbeads are used in products where a smoothing action is required, such as a face scrub, body scrub or even toothpaste. We don't need to use these plastic beads to get smooth exfoliated skin - there are alternatives.........
- Nuts. Yes Nuts. Nut shells are finely ground and create powders such as walnut shell powder. These natural nut powders when used as an alternative to microbeads give the same if not better exfoliation and you are not harming the environment at all in any way as they are biodegradable.
- Salt / Sugar - again these are wonderful alternatives to microbeads. Make your own sugar or salt body scrub which dissolves in the water and won't block your drains and more importantly won't damage the fragile eco-system once it leaves your bathroom.