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Research shows that 9 out of 10 personal care products contain harmful microplastics. These are not only bad for the environment but can also get into your body. For this research, we looked at the 10 most popular brands of the 4 biggest cosmetics companies in Europe.
The Beat the Microbead app allows you to scan ingredients on packaging to see if your product contains microplastics. Using machine learning software, the app can read and detect more than 500 different microplastics. You’ll immediately see if the scanned product contains microplastics and, if so, which ones.
Many personal care products, such as face cream and lipstick, contain tiny pieces of plastic. These microplastics, enter the sewage system through our shower drain. They are so small that they slip through the filters of water treatment plants and end up in rivers and oceans, where they become part of the plastics soup. Marine animals ingest microplastics and through the food chain they also end up on our plates.
We urge producers to remove (micro) plastics from their products and ask consumers to stop using products containing microplastics so that they do not end up in the environment and our own living space. With the Beat the Microbead app, you can easily see whether a product contains plastic.
Then look for the Zero-Logo on your product. Plastic-free products are included in the Zero category of the Beat the Microbead website and app. Cosmetic brands that are 100% free of microplastics receive the Zero Plastic Inside logo from us.
