Micro-beads Killing Fish and Adding Pollution

Micro-beads, the small plastic beads in your body wash and face wash, are entering bodies of water like the Great Lakes and polluting them. On top of the pollution, fish are digesting them, causing a health-hazard for humans when ingested by humans through fishing. The video below describes the problem:

Three companies, including Unilever, the Body Shop, and Johnson & Johnson have committed to removing plastic beads from bath and other personal hygiene products by 2015, and 5 Gyres, an ocean activist organization focused on removing plastic and trash from world oceans, launched a campaign called “Get Plastic Off My Face and Out of My Water Now!” which encourages consumers to stop buying products containing these plastic micro-beads.

Part of the reason why this is such a big deal is because removal of these beads from lakes and oceans is near impossible, says Treehugger. There is no plausible way to remove these beads, so not using them is the next best thing. You can sign the petition here to urge Proctor and Gamble to remove plastic from their personal products by 2015 (as they have previously stated that they will stop by 2017). As always, you can share the petition on Twitter and Facebook and you can also use the hash-tag #beatthebead for awareness.

You can read more about the beads and the implications of them here.