There's more at stake in current regulatory efforts to curtail use of micro-sized synthetic plastics in personal-care products than the cosmetic industry's formulation practices and their environmental impact.

The way that bans are legislated and implemented to phase out personal-care plastic microbeads very well could influence a coming backlash against the clothing industry, with potentially far greater implications for environmental health and biomaterial suppliers.

"Green," sustainability-focused news providers such as Treehugger have been reporting for years on the environmental dangers of synthetic plastic microfibers, which can travel from consumers' laundry machines to wastewater plants and from there to the nation's waterways, similar to the path that personal-care microbeads take when they wash down users' drains.

But other special-interest magazines and mainstream news outlets increasingly are picking up on the story.

NBC News and Time ran articles in January about microfiber pollution in the Great Lakes, citing research out of the State University of New York at Fredonia, which found microplastics in every one of the 18 fish species investigators sampled – the majority being fibers, they said.

NBC pointed to legislative efforts gathering steam at the time to ban synthetic plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal-care items. "Microfibers have gotten comparatively little attention," it noted.

More recently, Outside Magazine published an article – "The Invisible Nightmare in Your Fleece" – drawing attention to the issue and the prominent role that outdoor apparel plays and highlighting findings from a 2011 study published in Environmental Science & Technology. The study identified microplastic contamination on shorelines at 18 sites around the world, "representing six continents from the poles to the equator."

Study author Mark Anthony Browne, an ecologist now at the University of California Santa Barbara, linked the microplastic to sewage contaminated by fibers from laundering clothes, noting experiments demonstrating that a single garment can shed more than 1,900 fibers per wash.

The Outside article also underscores the comparatively small role that personal-care microbeads play in marine plastic pollution – contributing to around 13% of overall plastic waste, based on available research – versus microfibers, which constitute in the neighborhood of 85%.

The Personal Care Products Council has held that synthetic plastic microbeads in cosmetic products are not significant contributors to the plastic problem, while supporting Illinois' trendsetting bill introduced in 2014 to phase out the ingredient's use in a show of dedicated environmental stewardship ([A#02140421007]).

Addressing the microfiber problem may be a taller order due to their ubiquity and the size of the clothing sector, but the outdoor apparel industry, a major microfiber donor, is exploring the issue.

According to a July 2 post to the Outdoor Industry Association's website, the organization's Sustainability Working Group is assessing data "in order to clearly understand the impacts and identify our best leverage points as an industry. We need to know exactly what we're up against and where it makes the most sense for us to engage," OIA's Corporate Responsibility Coordinator Nikki Hodgson says.

Legislation could accelerate those efforts, and personal-care microbeads legislation could set a precedent for how stakeholders and lawmakers approach the microfiber issue.

In an Aug. 21 email, William Bardosh, founder, president and CEO of TerraVerdae BioWorks, discussed the Canadian biomaterials firm's concern about a proposed California bill that would bar future use of biodegradable microbeads made from polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a bioplastic that TerraVerdae produces using "green" methane and worker microorganisms ([A#02150831001]).

While microbeads are a significant piece of the company's emerging business at present, Bardosh said TerraVerdae's broader concern is how personal-care microbead legislation in states around the U.S. might affect other legislative efforts in the coming years with implications for PHA producers.

He pointed to the recent media reports on synthetic microplastic fibers.

"The impact of these fibers is far greater than the impact of microbeads," he noted. And that means far more potential business for TerraVerdae and other green materials suppliers.

If legislation materializes as consumer awareness of the problem grows, lawmakers will again be in the position of having to consider acceptable substitutes for the synthetic plastic of concern.

Bardosh noted that consumers are growing wise to "greenwashing" in the bioplastics industry, but discriminating between bioplastic options can be challenging. Legislators could be inclined to propose wholesale bans on bioplastic fiber substitutes, particularly if they refer to personal-care microbeads statutes that are overly restrictive, which is how TerraVerdae and a number of personal-care industry members view the proposed California bill.

"The massive amount of plastic waste debris in our oceans and on the land creates tremendous opportunity for companies like TerraVerdae that offer biodegradable alternatives. However, we must ensure that consumers and legislators understand that there is a difference between the various alternatives, and that not all bioplastics should be lumped together just because certain types are unacceptable for a particular solution," Bardosh said.

The exec has pointed out that increased use of natural abrasive materials in personal-care products, such as shell nut grit, could shift risks from the environment to human health, given rising rates of allergy to nuts and other natural materials.

Replacing synthetic microplastic fibers with natural fabrics, such as cotton or wool, has drawbacks that should be considered as well, he said. He noted that cotton requires more water and land to produce than synthetic plastics, and its production relies heavily on fertilizers and pesticides.

"There is no absolutely perfect solution," Bardosh said. Of chief importance is that consumers and policymakers are educated on the pros and cons of various approaches and the differences between increasingly sophisticated bioplastic options for commercial use, the exec suggested.

Cosmetic Microbeads Regulation Could Set Tone For Microfiber Response

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