UN Environment Programme's Clean Seas Campaign called for a global ban on microbeads in personal care products.
In India, recently The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has classified microbeads as “unsafe” for use in cosmetic products.
Increasing use of plastics and especially micro-plastics is developing into a major cause of concern for the environment.
It is also getting dangerous as plastics are making way into the food chains of even birds, animals and fishes.
What are microbeads?
Microbeads are smaller forms of plastic, no greater in size than 5 mm.
Microbeads are added as an exfoliating agent to cosmetics and personal care products, such as soap, facial scrub and toothpastes.
Microplastic sources also include breakdown of discarded bags and plastic packaging, particles from vehicle tyres, synthetic fibres from textiles, etc.
What are the concerns?
Microbeadsescape the filtration and treatment processes for waste water and end up in sites of nature.
This is resulting in significant global impacts on wildlife from marine environment pollution.
World’s coastal countries currently do not have the concerned recycling policies nor the technical capabilities, and so large quantities of plastic are not recycled and enter landfill.
The durable properties of plastics make them persistent and slow to degrade in the environment entering the food chains.
It holds the potential for both bioaccumulation and biomagnification.
What are the desired actions?
Regulations on use of plastics in general and microplastics in particular should be put in place by the government.
Alternatives should be found to tackle with rising consumerism and the increasing use of plastic in everyday life.
Invention of new, more readily degradable bio-based materials for the plastics could be a way.
The entire flow chain from manufacturer to the user to the waste collector and the recycling authority should be made aware of the risks.
Quick Facts
Bioaccumulation is the accumulation of substances or chemicals in an organism and toxins building up in a food chain. It occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost by catabolism and excretion.
Biomagnification, also known as bioamplification , is the increasing concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain.
