It seems unbelievable, but it’s true:  many personal care products like scrubs and peels now contain plastic particles. These go down the drain every time we use them. This means that every time we use such a product we are flushing plastic into our seas where it contributes to the problem of the ‘plastic soup’.

The North Sea Foundation together with other NGO’s supports the international Beat the Micro Bead campaign. We are asking the manufacturers of these care products to replace all plastic particles with environmentally friendly alternatives, such as anise seeds, sand, salt and coconut. These are materials that were used before the use of plastic particles.

Whatch the message from captain Charles Moore:

Until they do, it is important that we do not use care products with plastics. You too can help to end the plastic soup in the ocean. Check the list of products that contain plastic or check the label, this is only a small part of all products with plastic! Plastics can appear as: Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA).