Stop Polluting Plastic Microbeads in California!

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Tell your State Senator that you support a ban on polluting plastic microbeads!

Dear Senator ,

I’m writing to express my support for the bill in our legislature to prohibit the sale of personal care products containing plastic microbeads.  Plastic pollution in our waterways has become a true peril facing our environment.

The use of plastic microbeads in body washes, hand soaps, toothpaste, and cosmetics have become the standard; they are designed to be washed down the drain and littered into our environment. One single product of facial wash, for example, can contain over 300,000 tiny plastic beads.

Bypassing most wastewater treatment, plastic microbeads enter our waterways where they resemble fish eggs and are often mistaken for food. Ingestion by many species of animals of microplastic particles has been documented in dozens of peer-reviewed scientific papers. What’s at issue is that these plastic microbeads act like a sponge for persistent organic pollutants.  A single plastic microbead can be up to a million times more toxic than the surrounding water.  After ingestion, these dangerous chemicals can transfer to fish causing liver damage and hormone-disrupting activity. The toxins can also move up the food chain where they become a threat to human health.

Many states are considering microbeads legislation this session and some of these bills are supported by the industry that create these products. However, the industry-supported bill doesn’t address the real problem.  The personal care products industry supports a version of the bill that leaves a loophole for so-called biodegradable plastics.  Currently, there is no plastic that is commercially scaled that will actually biodegrade in the environment. Recent stories in the media demonstrate that industry is looking to undermine the spirit of the bill by replacing one type of plastic for another. Already, there exists natural exfoliating ingredients in products that perform similarly such as apricot shells. Adopting a policy that leaves a loophole for a material that only increases the plastic pollution problem is not a solution. I urge you to pass a strong policy that doesn’t leave a loophole for biodegradable and non-heat extruded plastics.

To encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, I would also suggest creating a mechanism for third party government agency evaluation of the safety of the substitute plastic material before it is allowed. If it can be proven to biodegrade before it leaves an effluent pipe and not be a threat to our waterways, than it can and should be allowed as long producers can prove that this is the case.

Sincerely,

Microbeads_Toothbrush

There is legislation in your state to try and put a stop to plastic microbeads! Send a letter to your State Senator today to voice your support for products free of these polluting plastics.

Plastic microbeads are in face soaps, body washes, and even toothpastes. Microbeads are really tiny plastic particles usually smaller than two millimeters.

Most wastewater treatment doesn’t filter out microbeads, and they get discharged into waterways. As a result, micro-plastic particles are found in bays, gulfs and seas worldwide, as well as inland waterways.

It doesn't have to be this way. Send a letter to your State Senator today to voice your support for products free of these polluting plastics.

Photo Credit: Sash Photography

Stop Polluting Plastic Microbeads in California!

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