NZ Government “must move fast” to ban killer microbeads – Greenpeace

Environment Minister Nick Smith is set to hold a meeting to discuss options for banning noxious microbeads from personal care products in New Zealand.

Greenpeace NZ says the Government must urgently follow the example of other countries like Canada, the USA and the Netherlands, and put a blanket ban on microbeads, a type of microplastic that can be found in products such as toothpastes, face washes, scrubs and shower gels.

Greenpeace campaigner, Sarah Yates, says the harmful effects of the tiny plastic particles that are added to consumer goods for their exfoliating and aesthetic properties are well known, and Nick Smith’s meeting with the Ministry for the Environment must get the ball rolling on banning them.

“Evidence is mounting by the day that they’re bad news. Billions of microbeads are making their way through our sewerage systems and getting flushed out into our oceans, where they’re being eaten by marine animals,” she says.

“They end up in the stomachs of aquatic life at all stages of the food chain, from plankton through to fish, dolphins and whales. Microbeads cause serious and painful health problems for these animals.

“The latest studies are showing that some juvenile fish actually prefer to eat microbeads over their natural food source, which is leading to severe behavioural changes that threaten their survival.”

Most wastewater treatment technology is not capable of filtering out all microplastics, including microbeads, because they are too small, Yates says. Once they’re released into the marine environment, it is impossible to clean them up and they persist in the environment for hundreds of years.

And although companies in New Zealand, including some supermarkets, are increasingly voluntarily getting rid of products with microbeads from their supply chain, Yates says now it’s time for the Government to step up too.

“A voluntary-level agreement just isn’t sufficient and has been proven not to work internationally. Eliminating microplastic pollution at the source is the only way forward.

“As our Environment Minister, Nick Smith must move fast to enforce a national legislative ban where products containing microbeads are manufactured, used or sold.”