CIDESCO asks spas and salons to rethink microbeads

CIDESCO, a standardisation body for beauty and spa therapy, is asking its global beauty business members to replace the skincare products they use containing plastic microbeads with alternatives that are less harmful to the planet.

It is only relatively recently that the environmental dangers of plastic microbeads, which are used in many products to exfoliate the skin, have come to light. One of the main concerns is that fish often end up consuming the beads once they wash up back in the sea after going down plugholes. Studies have shown that this results in toxins further up the food chain.

Some parts of the world are going so far as to ban the use of the microbeads across the board. The State Assembly of California passed a bill banning plastic microbeads in these personal care products after it was revealed that approximately 471million plastic beads are released into San Francisco Bay every day. Other States are in the process of doing the same, and The Netherlands has banned the use of microbeads across the country.

CIDESCO president Anna-Cari Gund commented: “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 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.”