The tiny bits of plastic found in many personal care products are piling up in waterways and being consumed by fish.
Illinois Environmental Council’s press conference about the ban, held at the Shedd Aquarium
Transcript of the Audio Podcast:
Illinois takes the lead on keeping fishy bits of plastic out of waterways… on this CurrentCast.
Many personal care products contain microbeads, or tiny bits of plastic, that are designed to exfoliate your skin. Millions of those microbeads wash down the drain every day and end up in America’s lakes, rivers, and oceans. They pile up in sediments, where fish and other marine animals gulp them down. Several states want to give microbeads the ax, but illinois took the first swing.
Jennifer Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Council, says the ban will not take effect right away:
Walling: “Illinois’s ban, it’s sort of a phase-out between 2017 and 2019, to get these things off the shelves.”
Walling says some manufacturers have agreed to phase out the use of microbeads even before the ban takes effect.
Support for CurrentCast comes from the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas. Learn more online at CurrentCast.org.
Jennifer Walling of the Illinois Environmental Council
Learn More:
-
“Know What’s In Your Face Wash: Why Illinois Banned Microbeads” from Time
- “Illinois becomes first state to ban lake-fouling microbeads” from Grist
- “IL first state to ban microbeads!” from Illinois Environmental Council
- “Microbeads: Frequently Asked Questions” from the Alliance for the Great Lakes
- Beat the Microbead app
- Product lists from the International Campaign against Microbeads in Cosmetics
