Are you aware companies use plastic in their personal care products?? I recently became informed about the growing problem of plastic in our global waters and of recent concern, plastic which could potentially be coming from us, via our personal care and cosmetic products.
Products such as exfoliating soaps, face washes and body cleansers. Companies like Proctor & Gamble, L’Oreal and Unilever intentionally put plastic in the form of polyethylene that after initial use, wind up flowing down our drains into the sewers, treatment plants and potentially, our ocean waters.
Isn’t it crazy how much we love to use disposable plastic everything! Cups, utensils, plates and now our personal care products! It is quite easy to use and throw away just for the convenience isn’t it?
The issue with plastic is it takes time to biodegrade and can linger around for decades (like in the landfill or in the ocean). While hanging around in the ocean, and with the help of ultraviolet light, it can break down into smaller particles and be mistaken for food by marine life becoming a hazard for these animals. In addition, these smaller particles can act like sponges absorbing other contaminants prior to being ingested by sea animals. The 5 Gyres Institute is one organization formed to research and communicate the problem of plastic pollution. If you have a minute, you should read more about this global problem and what you can do as a consumer to help reduce plastic pollution.
http://5gyres.org/what_is_the_issue/the_problem/
(So back to washing your face)… Many of us use washes and cleansers with exfoliating beads or microbeads. If you check the ingredient labels, some of these microbeads are plastic in material! Doesn’t that kinda gross you out and weird you out at the same time? Why would companies like Proctor & Gamble and Unilever do this? Some say it is cheaper to source plastic (aka polyethylene) than it is to source natural materials such as shells and seeds but what would you rather wash your face with? Something natural or something synthetic like plastic and have it wind up polluting our waters?? Polyethylene is used as a thickener, a stabilizer, as well as a binding agent. You can find it in scrubs, exfoliating cleansers, toothpastes, mascara and even skin creams.
The 5 Gyres Institute collected and studied water samples taken from the Great Lakes last year. They found the same polyethylene microbeads used in personal care products in the water samples from the Great Lakes. In one square kilometer, they found 450,000 micro polyethylene beads. You can’t say the sewage treatment plants are filtering them out, because in fact, they aren’t. The plastic beads are winding up in our waters.
Companies such as Unilever, the Body Shop and Colgate-Palmolive have pledged to begin phasing out plastic microbeads and promise to be microbead free within a few years but that is a while from now. OMG, a few years! :O
We all know we have a choice in the matter. The next time you pick up your toothpaste or favorite scrub, check the label to see if in fact the product uses polyethylene plastic microbeads. If it does, add it to the Beat the Microbead database and stop using the product! All you have to do is download the free app and you can help. You can also ask the companies to stop using plastic microbeads in their products, like immediately!
http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/
Stay tuned for my next post. I’ll show you products that I found which contain plastic microbeads. Be warned, there’s a lot of them.
If you find any products with plastic microbeads (polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, nylon) within the ingredients, be sure to let me know!
peace out skin ravers,
L