Plastic never really decomposes, but over time degrades into smaller and smaller pieces. First, it turns into ‘microplastics’, pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters. Then it fragments into the even smaller ‘nanoplastics’, which are no longer visible to the naked eye.
Plastic in cosmetics.
Many personal care products, such as face cream and lipstick, contain minuscule pieces of plastic. These microplastics, which you can hardly see with the naked eye, end up in the sewage system via our shower drain. They are so small that they slip through the filters of water treatment plants and end up in rivers and oceans, where they become part of the plastics soup. Marine animals ingest microplastics and through the food chain they also end up on our plates. What will that do to our health?
Beat the Microbead
Plastic Soup Foundation has been campaigning against microplastics in cosmetics for nine years, and we have already succeeded in removing microbeads from toothpaste and scrubs. Now it's time to tackle the bigger problem: we want to stop the use of ALL plastics in personal care products.
With our free app Beat the Microbead-app we are already achieving great success and we are getting new users every day. Of course we are very proud of this. Every time a product is scanned, we add it to our database after screening it in the app.
Why we need your help:
- To keep the app free for everyone
- To check all products and add them one by one to our database (with every euro you donate we will be able to add 2 products to our database!)
- To beat the industry with all that information gathered
- To convince politicians to ban plastic in cosmetics
- To make the app even more user-friendly.
So please donate and help us in the fight against microplastics in cosmetics!
Hebben jullie de uitzending van Keuringsdienst van Waarde gezien? Teun van de Keuken confronteerde daarin de Nederlandse Cosmetica Vereniging aan de hand van ons onderzoek met de vraag waarom producenten niet transparanter zijn over het gebruik van plastic in verzorgingsproducten. Ook bij Jinek werd dit nog een keer herhaald.
Iedereen moet zelf kunnen bepalen!
Je zou toch als consument zelf moeten kunnen kiezen of je een product mét of zónder plastic wil? Om die keuze te kunnen maken heb je nu ‘een scheikundediploma en een microscoop nodig,’ verzuchtte Van de Keuken.
Hij wees vervolgens op de gratis app Beat the Microbead van ‘de knappe koppen van Plastic Soup Foundation’ (toen zaten we wel een beetje te blozen voor de tv) waarmee iedereen zelf zijn producten kan scannen en meteen kan zien of en welke microplastics erin zitten.
