Salt, sugar, coconut husks, oatmeal, coffee grounds, apricot kernals – all things that can be used for exfoliating the skin. But increasingly, companies are using microplastics or microbeads. And it's surprising what products they turn up in.
Amelia Nurse talks to Sally Gaw, environmental chemist at the University of Canterbury to find out how what we wash our faces with could end up on our dinner plate.
Links
- Beat the Microbead App
- Plastic Soup Foundation
- Plastic Free July
- A 2014 study on plastics in the world’s oceans
- Operation Clean Sweep
- Marine Litter Solutions
Major types of plastics
POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE (PET OR PETE) - 1
Commonly recycled
Used in: soft drink bottles, water bottles, cooking oil bottles, peanut butter jars
HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE (HDPE) - 2
Commonly recycled
Used in: detergent bottles, yoghurt containers, milk bottles, bottle caps, hard hats
POLYVINYL CHLORIDE (PVC) - 3
Sometimes recycled
Used in: plastic pipes, plastic food wrap, outdoor furniture, flooring, credit cards
LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE (LDPE) - 4
Sometimes recycled
Used in: grocery bags, dry cleaning bags, produce bags, rubbish bags, bubble wrap
POLYPROPYLENE (PP) - 5
Occasionally recycled
Used in: bottle caps, food containers, drinking straws, clothes, biscuit wrappers, plant pots
POLYSTYRENE (PS) - 6
Occasionally recycled
Used in: styrofoam cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, takeaway containers
