Microbeads: An Emerging Water Quality Issue

August 11, 2016

Microbeads: An Emerging Water Quality Issue

For decades, water quality professionals have faced the

challenge of controlling a variety of conventional and

nonconventional pollutants (e.g., nutrients and suspended

solids; oil and grease) and toxic chemical compounds that

can harm aquatic life in lakes, streams, and coastal waters,

as well as public health. Microplastics, plastic fragments

that measure less than 5 millimeters (mm) in size (0.2

inches), are contaminants of recent and growing concern.

Microplastic is ubiquitous and persistent in the

environment. It has been reported in marine and coastal

waters and many freshwater lakes and rivers worldwide, as

well as on beaches and in sediments: a 2014 study

estimated that 5.25 trillion plastic particles weighing nearly

270,000 tons are floating on seas globally.

One source of microplastic pollution has received attention:

microbeads, which are a subset of the contamination

problem (probably less than 10% by volume). A number of

companies are voluntarily removing microbeads from their

consumer products, and nine states passed laws to ban

manufacture and sale of products with microbeads. In

December 2015, Congress passed legislation, the

Microbead-Free Waters Act (P.L. 114-114 ), to ban

manufacture and distribution of cosmetic products that

contain microbeads in the United States.

Background

Most microplastic debris results from the breakdown of

items such as plastic bottles and bags, synthetic clothing

fibers, and boat paint particles, in addition to personal care

products. In the aquatic environment, marine mammals,

birds, and fish and shellfish cannot distinguish

microplastics from food. Once in the food chain, particles

may threaten aquatic life and public health, but risks—

particularly for humans—are not well understood. The

particles themselves may contain toxins. Additionally,

microplastic fragments can act like sponges, adsorbing

persistent organic pollutants, such as polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs), which are harmful to organisms that

consume them. Microplastics show minimal biological

degradation. Particles may remain in the environment for a

long time and travel a long way from the point of origin,

continuously releasing toxic substances that may result in

long-term harm to biological diversity and ecosystems.

Microbeads are synthetic polymers such as polyethylene or

polypropylene plastic. They are used as abrasives and

exfoliants in hundreds of consumer and personal care

products such as facial scrubs, shampoos and soaps, lip

gloss, deodorants, and toothpaste. The particles are tiny—

from 5 micrometers (µm) to 1 mm in diameter (the latter is

about the size of the period on a printed page; see Figure

1). A single product can contain hundreds of thousands of

microbeads.

Figure 1. Plastic Microbeads

Source: http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/10/10/california-passesnations-strongest-ban-on-plastic-microbeads/.

In most cases, microbeads are intended to be washed down

the drain after use and end up in the municipal sewer

system. Because microbeads are so small, most wastewater

treatment technology is not capable of filtering or removing

them completely from the wastestream. Most microbeads

do not biodegrade, as they require high-heat processing to

break down, which municipal sewage treatment systems

typically are unable to do. As a result, particles pass

through the plant and are discharged into nearby waters. A

2015 report by the New York State Attorney General’s

Office found microbeads in effluent samples from 25 of 34

wastewater treatment plants studied, concluding that

microbeads likely are being discharged at the majority of

treatment plants operating across New York State. Particles

that subsequently enter water supply systems are not

removed by drinking water treatment technologies.

A growing body of research reports microplastic

contamination throughout the marine food web, ranging

from zooplankton and invertebrates to species such as

bluefin tuna that are consumed by humans. Recent studies

have drawn attention to concentrations of plastic particles in

freshwaters, such as the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain,

at greater concentrations than in ocean waters. In 2014, the

U.S. Geological Survey began a study of microplastics in

rivers, sampling 29 Great Lakes tributaries across six states.

Other research of Great Lakes waters suggests

concentrations of more than one million bits of microplastic

per square mile in some parts of the lakes’ surfaces.

Microbeads occurred in more than 60% of the samples.

Responses

Consumer and advocacy groups began campaigns in 2013

urging that products containing microbeads be redesigned

to incorporate less problematic constituents. Some groups

maintain lists of products that contain microbeads and urge

consumers to seek out alternatives. In response, companies

such as Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, and Procter &

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Microbeads: An Emerging Water Quality Issue

Gamble initiated voluntary efforts to eliminate the use of

microbeads in their products in favor of alternatives.

Consumer groups endorsed the companies’ efforts, while

also noting that they did not apply to all manufacturers and

were not legally enforceable.

(including toothpastes) that contain intentionally-added

plastic microbeads. The ban takes effect on:

Initial legislative responses to the microbeads issue

occurred at the state level. Bills were introduced in more

than two dozen states. Nine states and several New York

counties passed laws to ban manufacture and sale of

products that contain microbeads. Illinois was the first state

to enact legislation, in 2014; eight others passed bills in

2015 (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine,

Maryland, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin). These state

laws differ in various ways, including how terms such as

“plastic microbeads” and “biodegradable” are defined,

whether biodegradable products are excluded from bans,

and what types of products are covered. The state laws

established schedules for banning manufacture and sale of

consumer products that contain microbeads and prohibiting

manufacture and sale of over-the-counter drugs that contain

microbeads, but with differing implementation timelines.

Advocacy groups, such as the Alliance for the Great Lakes,

argued that state law differences could lead to a confusing

patchwork of standards across the country, creating

problems for interstate commerce, and urged Congress to

enact a federal ban on microbeads in cosmetics and

personal care products. Industry groups, such as the

Personal Care Products Council and the American

Chemistry Council, supported a uniform federal approach

that avoids different requirements and deadlines across the

states and gives manufacturers sufficient time to

reformulate their products.

 July 1, 2018, for manufacturing a rinse-off cosmetic that

People often use the term “personal care products” to refer

to a variety of items commonly found in the health and

beauty departments of drug and department stores. The

term is not defined in law, however. Under the Federal

Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FD&C Act), many

products intended to cleanse or beautify are regulated as

cosmetics. Examples include skin moisturizers, lipsticks,

shampoos, toothpastes, and deodorants. These products are

primarily subject to labeling requirements. Other personal

care products that are intended to treat or prevent disease—

such as antiperspirants and treatments for dandruff or

acne—are drugs under the FD&C Act and must receive

premarket approval by the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA). Some products are both cosmetics and drugs and

must meet FD&C Act requirements for both. Examples

include beauty products that bear sun-protection factor

(SPF) claims or antidandruff shampoos.

 July 1, 2017, for manufacturing. and July 1, 2018, for

distributing; and

is also a nonprescription drug, and July 1, 2019, for

distributing a rinse-off cosmetic that is also a

nonprescription drug.

The act defines a plastic microbead as “any solid plastic

particle that is less than five millimeters in size and is

intended to be used to exfoliate or cleanse the human body

or any part thereof.” It preempts states or localities from

establishing restrictions on the manufacture or distribution

of rinse-off cosmetics containing plastic microbeads that

differ from those in the federal law, including those

previously enacted.

The new federal law does not provide an exemption for

biodegradable plastics, which some of the recent state laws

allowed. Laws passed by Indiana, Colorado, and Maine

would allow manufacturers to replace plastic microbeads

with biodegradable alternatives. Consumer groups oppose

such provisions, arguing that claims of biodegradability

have not been scientifically proven and that exemptions put

the “burden of proof” on officials, not manufacturers, to

prove that a changed product is a non-biodegradable plastic.

Other states (e.g., Connecticut, Maryland, and California)

prohibited such alternatives or allowed them only after a

process to certify biodegradability.

Consumer and advocacy groups are generally supportive of

the new U.S. law, although some are concerned that

restricting its applicability to products that are “used to

exfoliate or cleanse in a rinse-off product” may not address

plastic microbeads used in products that are not designed to

exfoliate or cleanse, such as skin moisturizers or lipsticks,

because rinse-off products are only one of many sources.

Before passage of the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015

(P.L. 114-114), no agency regulated plastic microbeads.

The Environmental Protection Agency has authority under

the Clean Water Act to regulate microbeads that enter

wastewater from industrial discharges, but that authority

does not extend to directly regulating microbeads in

wastewater effluent released from households.

In June 2016, Canada took action to align its control of

plastic microbeads to the new U.S. restrictions. Following a

unanimous resolution passed by the House of Commons,

the Canadian government finalized an order under its

Environmental Protection Act designating plastic

microbeads up to 5 mm in size as a toxic substance. The

designation will enable to the government to propose risk

management measures, either rules or nonregulatory

approaches, to manage the environmental risks that

microbeads pose. Beyond North America, several European

nations have called for an EU-wide ban on microbeads,

including the Netherlands, which enacted a ban in 2014.

The European Parliament called for single-use plastics that

cannot be recycled, such as plastic microbeads, to be

phased out of the market or banned outright. In 2015, the

United Nations Environment Program recommended a

global ban on microplastics in personal care and cosmetic

products.

The new federal law amends the FD&C Act to prohibit the

manufacture and distribution of rinse-off cosmetics

Claudia Copeland, Specialist in Resources and

Environmental Policy

IF10451

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Microbeads: An Emerging Water Quality Issue

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