Trillion Tiny Microbeads Enter Water Sources Each Day: Scientists Call for Ban

They estimated that about 8 trillion microbeads per day are being emitted into aquatic habitats in the United States.

That sludge is sometimes used as fertilizer, which means once it rains-or once a farmer turns on an irrigation system-those beads may eventually end up in waterways too.

To achieve a conservative estimate of how many plastic microbeads are released into bodies of water, the researchers made their calculations with the assumption that wastewater treatment plants process half the amount of sewage daily, with only 0.1 microbead per L of effluent.

Stephanie Green, the David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow in the College of Science at Oregon State University, and co-author of this report, said, “We’re facing a plastic crisis and don’t even know it. Part of this problem can now start with brushing your teeth in the morning”. Previous studies by the same team proved that they can carry many unsafe contaminants to animals with toxic effect.

Scientists have called for a complete ban on microbeads which are basically the small plastic pieces that are used in soap, face wash & toothpaste for exfoliation. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) filter out 95-99.9 percent of the microbeads, but the remaining beads-approximately 300 tennis courts when the beads are lined up side by side-are discharged directly into aquatic habitats.

When the small fish or creatures that have ingested the toxic materials become eaten by bigger animals, the microbeads can travel all throughout the food chain and may subsequently reach humans as well, said John F. Calvelli from the Wildlife Conservation Society. Some of the current regulations only allow the use of “biodegradable” microbeads; however companies are apparently bypassing this legislation with beads “can biodegrade just slightly”.

Recently, one source of microplastic has received much attention in the media and from policy makers: plastic microbeads.

The microbeads used in various cosmetic products are quickly becoming a major environmental hazard as more than 8 trillion plastic microbeads are ending up in the water bodies. “The microbeads are very sturdy”, Inexperienced added.

Products containing microbeads, which are added to products as a scrubbing aid, are posing a threat to wildlife, writes The Washington Post.

Chelsea Rochman of the University of California, Davis and lead author of the study, said microbeads were one of many types of microplastics to be found in the gut content of the marine wildfire that they examined. For instance, some legislations fail to specify a degree of biodegradability, under which microbeads don’t have to be fully biodegradable.

To help our planet get rid of this problem, a large number of companies around the globe have committed that they will stop using microbeads in their products within a few years.