MICROBEADS
Microbeads are tiny pieces of plastic found in everyday cosmetics such as toothpaste, face wash and shampoo, which make their way down the drain and into our oceans, contributing to the estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic which end up in the seas each year (sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur who founded the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050 - a f*cking terrifying prospect). Plastic has been found in the stomachs of seabirds and fish, which means they also eventually end up on our plates, with potentially drastic consequences for health.
One of the best things you can do to combat the problem of microbeads is to “vote with your purse” and say NO to companies using microbeads in their products! After an intense Greenpeace campaign in the summer of 2016, Tesco pledged to remove products with microbeads from their ranges by 2017, and other supermarkets also promised to take action. But the most significant reaction was the UK government introducing a ban of sale of products containing microbeads by the end of 2017. This was also in part inspired by President Obama signing the ‘Microbeads-Free Waters Act 2015’ to phase out the manufacturing of products with microbeads by 1st July 2017 and the sale of such products by 1st July 2018.
By Ragavi Thayananthan
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