Plastic microbeads are a common ingredient of cosmetic and personal care products such as face scrubs, soaps, lotions and toothpastes. They are added to these products for a number of purposes, such as to make the product more abrasive or for decoration.
Cosmetics Europe,1 the European trade association for the cosmetics and personal care industry, defines plastic microbeads as “intentionally added, water insoluble, solid plastic particles (5 mm or less in size)”, which are “used to exfoliate or cleanse in rinse-off personal care products”; this specification was added to the definition in 2016, following two international, multi-trade association plastic workshops held in order to harmonise definitions. This definition distinguishes plastic microbeads from microplastics, which are any 5 mm or less, water insoluble, solid plastic particles found as marine litter.
The environmental issues
Following use by consumers, the plastic microbeads present in cosmetic and personal care products are washed into domestic sewage. The microbeads are, however, too small to be completely filtered out by sewage treatment systems. A proportion is consequently emitted from the sewage treatment plant and, ultimately, is washed out into the marine environment
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