Plastic ain't fantastic, reason No. 4,972

Beads in many face scrubs harmful to marine life 5

face washing
Photo: Perfecto Insecto.
Plastic needs a new slogan, LOLcat-style: Im in ur facewash, hurting teh fishes.

Slate, YahooGreen, and now EarthFirst are reporting that the tiny exfoliating beads in many facial scrubs are made of polyethylene, and once the beads get washed down the drain and make their way to the ocean, it's time for Nemo and friends to get ill. (Of course, polyethylene's also a suspected carcinogen, and as a plastic, its production is fossil fuel-intensive.)

From Slate:

[L]aboratory experiments have shown that a range of bottom-of-the-food-chain critters -- including mussels, barnacles, lugworms, and tiny crustaceans called amphipods -- will ingest the particles, which may then remain in their digestive tracts or migrate to other body tissue. New research also suggests that polyethylene is an excellent transporter of phenanthrene, a byproduct of fossil fuel burning that's a dangerous ocean pollutant.

A Procter & Gamble spokesperson told Slate that the beads get filtered out during sewage treatment, but the process isn't designed to keep out particles that small (under a millimeter). YahooGreen advises avoiding scrubs by Olay, Neutrogena, Dove, and Aveeno, to name a few, and lists some alternatives, including making your own.

Holly Richmond is a Seattle-based freelance writer and editor, and was previously Grist’s editorial intern and marketing assistant.

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  1. acschwim Posted 3:17 am
    29 Jul 2008

    What about bio-plastics?Just wondering...are bioplastics as damaging, and would they be appropriate to use in such products? I realize that smaller life forms ingesting foreign objects is never a good thing, but are the chemical components as detrimental?
    Bio-plastics have been touted as an innovative way to avoid unnecessary petroleum use and to increase biodegradability, but I'm not sure about the logistics of its chemical composition. It's been used in packaging and conventional products, but is there any reason to rule them out in personal care products?
    Source: http://www.biobasednews.com/node/17102    

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  2. Roz Cummins Posted 7:06 am
    29 Jul 2008

    Just use a washcloth...If you wash your face with a washcloth you won't need to exfoliate with "beads."

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  3. BlackBear Posted 9:15 am
    29 Jul 2008

    The Old School is the New SchoolSeems to me that Roz is saying what I've been saying for a while... Just ask your favorite octagenerian how they did things "back in the day" and do it that way with today's products. Chances are it'll be simpler and just as effective as today's high tech gadgetry.
    Take today's example... "Face wash" vs. "soap and washcloth." I don't have perfect skin (what normal person does?) but my skin doesn't get better with the application of facewash, so why spend the money?
    Don't even get my started about people that use deodorant soap and then apply deodorant! Pick one, already!

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  4. persimmon Posted 12:44 pm
    05 Aug 2008

    au naturaleone word...sugar

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  5. John former Marine Posted 10:01 pm
    27 Aug 2008

    coffee grounds...I've been picking up free coffee grounds every day all summer at a coffee shop across the street from my bus stop.  I've been mainly tossing them into my garden and using them to augment potting soil.  I've heard there are tons of uses for spent coffee grounds though, inclucing using them as an exfoliator.  Haven't tried it yet though because I just use a washcloth like Roz suggests.

    Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

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