Two weeks after the green group announced that microplastics were found in more than 170 types of fish and marine creatures, they pinpointed specific brands for not eliminating the use of microbeads - microplastics of less than five millimeters - in their products.
"The performance of five commonly found brands in Hong Kong, including Estee Lauder, Chanel, LG, Kose and Amway, is particularly disappointing," said senior campaigner Kate Lin Pui- yi.
Polyethylene, a common microplastic, was found in the Essentials Polishing Scrub of Artistry (a product under Amway), an exfoliating scrub of Clinique (a subsidiary of Estee Lauder), Men's Facial Wash Wild Scrub of Softymo (a brand of Kose) and White Seed Exfoliating Foam Cleanser from The Face Shop (a subsidiary of LG).
Another microplastic, polymethyl methacrylate, was found in Chanel's Ultra-light Skin Perfecting Makeup SPF 15.
Microbeads are often manufactured to enhance lubricating and exfoliating effects in personal-care products such as facial scrubs and cleansers. However, they are too small to be filtered by sewage systems and are ingested by marine life when they swiftly flow into the ocean.
In research Greenpeace conducted from April to May, 30 cosmetics and personal- care products companies were interviewed, 23 of which were based in Europe and the US, five in South Korea and Japan, and two from Brazil. Only US firm Edgewell Personal Care Brands did not respond.
Twenty companies interpreted microbeads as chemicals that can provide scrubbing, cleansing and exfoliating functions while 28 companies said policies in restricting the use of microbeads would only apply to certain cleansing products.
"Even though they have certain policies to restrict the use of microplastics, the devil is in the details," said Lin, who criticized corporations for only including a few cleansing products in their policies and imposing a lot of exemptions in the shapes and sizes of microbeads.
Apart from urging the government to ban the production and sales of microbead-containing products, Greenpeace also urged firms to voluntarily eliminate the use of all microbeads in their products and disclose their policy details to the public.
Source: The Standard