Microbeads Banned In UK Beauty Products

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Microbeads appear in a number of beauty and cosmetics products, and after a long campaign they will now be banned in the UK.

For those that do not know, microbeads are small plastic particles no bigger than 5mm that appear in a number of cosmetic products such as toothpaste, exfoliators and facial scrubs. Sadly they are not biodegradable and as nearly all of them end up going down the drain they can cause problems for water supplies and aquatic life who mistake the microbeads for food. They cannot be filtered out by treatment plants and through contamination they can even carry toxins.

These microbeads have already been banned in the United States, and organisations such as GreenpeaceUK, the Environmental Investigation Agency and the Marine Conservation Society have campaigned for this legislation to be repeated in the UK.

Whilst some manufacturers such as Colgate-Palmolive and Sanex have voluntarily removed microbeads from their products, there are many more who still use them. This prompted George Eustice, a minister at the Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs to finally announce a ban this week.

The details of the ban are still be seen, so we do not know how long manufacturers will have to remove the microbeads from their products, but you could be seeing some of your professional and high street products changing soon.

Do any of your salon products contain microbeads? Have your suppliers told you about the ban and how their products will be changed? Let us know here!

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