Created by two Dutch NGOs, the Beat the Microbead smartphone application is now international. Its purpose is to alert consumers to the presence of plastic microbeads in cosmetic products. With the declared objective of encouraging companies to eliminate them from their formulas, and thus avoid the marine pollution they are responsible for.
It’s as simple as an app. You download it, select your country, then, in the shops, you scan the barcode of a product with your mobile phone. The application then displays a colour code:
• Red: the product contains plastic microbeads
• Orange: the product contains microbeads, but the producer has indicated its intention to replace them or to change the composition of its products
• Green: the product does not contain microbeads
It is then up to the consumer to make his choice.
The application is now available in five languages: Dutch, German, English, Spanish and French.
The Beat the Microbead website also offers country-by-country lists of products that contain these plastics.
What’s the problem?
Very recently, says this website, we have become aware that :
• Plastic microbeads are used in the composition of thousands of skin care products (including toothpaste, shaving cream, shower gel and exfoliants)
• A single vial can contain thousands of plastic microbeads
- Microbeads can make up 10% of the volume of a product
• Sewage treatment plants are not equipped to filter plastic microbeads from wastewater; thus, the microbeads can be found in the treated water at the outlet of the sewage …
