The guilt-free beauty alternatives to invest in ahead of the microbeads ban
A ban on microbeads has officially come into force in the UK meaning that manufacturers will no longer be allowed to use the harmful plastic when creating rinse-off products.
And later in the year, plans are in place to banish the selling of beauty products containing microbeads altogether.
Predominantly found in everything from make-up must-haves to toothpastes, microbeads have been proven to sweep eight million tons of plastic into the sea per year. While a single shower can result in 100,000 pieces of plastic floating into the ocean.
And heavy usage has understandably had a devastating impact on the environment. As a consequence to the minute size of microbeads, they have trickled into the food chain and poisoned fish and other marine animals.
Environment Minister Therese Coffey announced: “The world’s seas and oceans are some of our most valuable natural assets and I am determined we act now to tackle the plastic that devastates our precious marine life.”
She continued, “Microbeads are entirely unnecessary when there are so many natural alternatives available, and I am delighted that from today cosmetics manufacturers will no longer be able to add this harmful plastic to their rinse-off products. Now we have reached this important milestone, we will explore how we can build on our world-leading ban and tackle other forms of plastic waste.”
But which are the items we can and cannot use?
According to Beat the Microbead, the likes of St Tropez’s Tan Enhancing Polish, The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Squeaky Clean Scrub and Sensodyne’s Repair & Protect are all popular everyday items which boast dangerous microplastic ingredients.
So in light of the terrifying stats, we’ve rounded up the must-have products which will not only look great in your beauty cabinet but are guaranteed to give the environment a helping hand too.
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