All that glitter isn’t gold... it’s microbeads!

SO it’s coming up to Christmas. We’re starting to think of decorations, parties, presents and... grooming! What can all of these things have in common? Microbeads. Probably not the first thing that sprang to mind!

So what are they and what’s the problem with them? Microbeads are tiny particles of plastic, hardly visible to the naked eye and, because wastewater treatment plants are not designed to filter out microbeads, they end up in our oceans. There they attract heavy metals and toxins, and are absorbed or eaten by marine animals and birds, passing along the marine food chain. Since humans are ultimately at the top of this food chain, it is likely that we are also absorbing microbeads from the food we eat. What’s more, microbeads are not biodegradable and once they enter the marine environment they are impossible to remove.

Very recent research has also revealed that 83% of tap drinking water samples from around the world contained these micro plastic fibres. They are now also being found in our sea salt.

What can we do about this? Well firstly we can look at how we contribute to the problem. Microbeads are used as ingredients in thousands of personal care products sold around the world. More and more countries are now banning the sale of products that contain them and Ireland has begun the process to ban the sale of these products also. In the meantime however, you can look at the products you are buying to check if they contain microbeads and familiarise yourself with other names on their ingredient list that are microbeads (e.g. polyethylene or polypropylene). It’s even quicker to use an app which shows you if a product contains mircrobeads or not. The Beat the Microbead App scans the barcode of personal care products, informing the consumer whether or not the product contains plastic microbeads.

What else can we do? Well we make some different choices. A simple one is to stop using glitter, most of which is made of plastic. If you want to do more, take a look at the clothes you’re buying. Most synthetic clothing is plastic based. There are new products on the market, laundry bags to wash your clothes in, which are designed to prevent microfiber pollution. One is The Guppy Friend which was launched this year.

So with all that in mind, what we do and how we do things really does matter. A little behaviour change goes a long way. What will yours be?