Tesco has announced that all of its own brand cosmetic and household products will be microbeads-free by the end of 2016.
Tesco’s group quality director Tim Smith said that the company is contacting the brands it sells and asking them about their plans to remove microbeads in their products.
Mr Smith was speaking at an event on Greenpeace’s ship Esperanza.
Microbeads are the small plastic fragments that are used in a variety of products, including face scrubs, kitchen cleaners and toothpaste, to produce texture. From households, these tiny particles are washed down the drain and ultimately reach the rivers and ocean and pollute them. These plastic particles are consumed by fishes and other aquatic animals and cause harm to them.
Environmental groups in the UK are demanding the government to impose a complete ban on microbeads which are known to pollute rivers and oceans. According to campaigners, the Government must impose a complete ban on plastic “microbeads” in all household and beauty products.
The UK Government is also planning to ban microbeads from beauty products, but campaigners are demanding legislation without any loopholes.
The Environmental Investigation Agency, the Marine Conservation Society, Greenpeace, and Fauna and Flora International are asking the government to ban all solid micro-plastics, suggesting that there should be no lower size limit as microbeads can be much smaller than a millimetre.
“Of all the plastic around, the small bits that flow through our sewage treatment plants are probably the most harmful, which is one of the reasons a ban on microbeads would be helpful,” said Dr Erik van Sebille, from Imperial College London while speaking on the Esperanza.
According to Dr Erik, there is evidence that small microbeads cause harm to marine life, for example, preventing oysters from reproducing. He said microbeads cause more harm as they could enter tissues and damage them.
