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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday December 12 2015, @01:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the non-biodegradeable dept.

Some personal care products, such as shower gels, soaps, shampoo, facial scrubs and toothpastes, are formulated with plastic microbeads. The colorful particles, made usually from polyethylene (but sometimes from nylon, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate or polymethyl methacrylate), serve as abrasives and add visual appeal to the products. Unfortunately, they are small enough to pass through sewage treatment plants into waterways and oceans, where they can persist. In the aquatic environment, the microbeads can absorb other pollutants and can be ingested by animals, resulting in an increase in the amount of those pollutants in the food chain.

Under the proposed legislation, called the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, manufacturing could continue until July 1, 2017 and sales would be phased out from 2018 through 2019. The House bill was sponsored by Republican Fred Upton of Michigan and Democrat Frank Pallone, Jr. of New Jersey. A similar bill is under consideration in the Senate.

In July, the International Campaign Against Microbeads in Cosmetics has made a list of products which contained microbeads.


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:05PM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:05PM (#275532) Journal

    companies who are paid to take plastics to be recycled and then dump it in the ocean

    Is this happening? Are there news reports?

    Seems to me that one of the largest organizations doing this was New York City, up till 1992.

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