CIDESCO urges its global membership to replace microbeads found in scrubs, exfoliators, cleansers and soaps with environmentally safe alternatives

In an effort to help protect our planet's environment, CIDESCO, a world standard for beauty and spa therapy, calls on its global membership to replace skincare products containing microbeads with safer alternatives.

Plastic has become central to our everyday lives over the past 60 years, but we are discovering that this has come at a price. The price is the danger plastic is causing to the environment. Plastic bottles and containers filling up our oceans with "Plastic Garbage Islands" are not the only plastic issue of concern. Recently, it has come to light that plastic microbeads are problematic. Studies have shown that fish often mistake microbeads for food and eat them, resulting in toxins building up in the food chain.

Plastic microbeads are used in some cosmetic products including scrubs, exfoliators, cleansers and soaps. In California alone, approximately 471 million plastic beads are released into San Francisco Bay every day. This has resulted in The State Assembly of California passing a bill banning plastic microbeads used in these products, and other states in the process of doing the same. The Netherlands has already banned the use of microbeads across the country.

CIDESCO’s President, Anna-Cari Gund says, “Plastic pollution has become a man-made global catastrophe. As a worldwide organisation we know that together our members can make a difference in helping to prevent this situation from getting worse. We have therefore issued an appeal to all our members to review the products they are using and, where necessary, swap the products containing microbeads with safe alternatives.”

Commenting on the issue, Steve Malkin, CEO of Planet First, a specialist in sustainable business practice explains, “You cannot remove microbeads from the environment as they are too small to catch in water treatment and they don't degrade. The danger is that they will sit in our oceans and lakes forever, to be ingested by fish and mollusks, damaging our ecosystems and entering our food chain. The solution is for companies to stop producing products with microbeads and to use natural alternatives. It's better for the planet, us and our fellow species."

For further information about CIDESCO please visit www.cidesco.com.