Whether shower gel, peeling or lipstick: many cosmetic products contain microplastics. It is often added as an abrasive, binder or film former. In the waste water, these plastics end up directly in our rivers via the sewage treatment plants or in the sewage sludge on the fields and thus in the natural cycle.
When buying cosmetics, consumers find it difficult to tell whether the packaging contains microplastics. A grievance that the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) did not want to accept and has therefore expanded its “Tox-Fox-App” to detect chemicals that are harmful to health and the environment.
From now on, the “ToxFox” product check not only checks cosmetics for hormonal pollutants and nanoparticles, but also for microplastics. In addition, the shopping guide provides information on harmful substances in almost all everyday products.
Luise Körner, BUND chemical expert: “Microplastics have no place in cosmetics – neither on our skin nor in the environment. Once released, microplastics can travel long distances. Whether on the sea surface, in the sediment of the deep sea or in the Arctic – microplastics have already been detected everywhere.” Microplastics have been detected in snow samples from Germany, the Swiss Alps and the Arctic. This proves that the small plastic particles also reach remote places and are a worldwide problem.
Microplastics are usually difficult or impossible to degrade biologically. Microorganisms in the sea ingest it before they are eaten by fish. Marine mammals, birds – and we humans feed on fish and mussels. Microplastics also act in the environment like a “magnet” for pollutants that bind to the plastic particles. If animals eat the particles, they also absorb a lot of other toxins.
“A quarter of all women in western industrialized countries use up to 15 different cosmetic products every day,” concludes the BUND expert. “The products are used up, but the microplastics remain in the environment. Therefore, from the point of view of BUND, it is advisable to use as many products as possible without microplastics.”
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What is microplastic?
Microplastics are solid and insoluble plastics that are smaller than five millimeters. Fine plastic granules and liquid plastic are used in cosmetics production. They can be found, for example, in scrubs or as massage pearls in shower gels, but also in liquid form as a binding agent.
You can download the ToxFox app for Android and iOS free of charge at http://www.bund.net/toxfox relate.
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