New York considers ban on microbeads
MAY 19, 2014
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027939
Ars Technica : New York’s state legislature is considering a ban on products containing microbeads—plastic spheres between 4 μm and 1200 μm in diameter. Used in a variety of face and body washes and toothpastes, the beads are small enough that they pass through waste treatment systems and end up in rivers and lakes. Along the way, the plastic can absorb toxic chemicals and, if fish eat them, spread pollution into the food chain. Studies in the Great Lakes and the North Sea have found the beads both in the water and in fish. In New York alone, it is estimated that 19 tons of microbeads enter the state’s wastewater each year.
© 2014 American Institute of Physics
