How does the production of micro beads in beauty
products affect our marine life?
Microbeads are very small pieces of plastics also
known as polyethene microbeads that are used within beauty products such as
toothpaste and face scrubs (Thefactsabout.co.uk,
2017). Microbeads can be made from other petrochemical plastics (Department,
2016). These types of plastics are only manufactured for consumer goods; however,
they are on the way to being banned completely worldwide (Whyte, 2017).
These small microbeads are non-biodegradable which means when they are released into our environment they stay around for ever (Plastic Free Seas, 2003). This is a problem for our marine animals as they cannot distinguish the difference between food and the miniature microbeads (Clear water, 2017). This is also a big problem for our water ways as these are polycyclic hydrocarbons polluting the environment, making our water unclean (Thefactsabout.co.uk, 2017). The small microbeads are unable to be disposed of unless melted down and reused for another purpose (Gagilas and Alper, 2016).
Micro beads are small plastics make of polyethene, this is also known a polymer or a plastic (ABC News, 2016). A polymer is a large molecule composed of many repeated subunits (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017). There are many physical and chemical properties of polyethene in which make it suitable for the use in body scrubs (1millionwomen, 2017). Polyethene is used in body scrubs due to its ability to adapt to certain activities, to exfoliate the skin in a quick non-natural way and micro abrasions (Biome Team, 2016). They can do this due to their physical properties being sphere, easily moulded and soluble in water. These small microbeads were originally chosen to be used in beauty products is because they are clean, safe and are manufactured to a small size (Biome Team, 2016).
Petroleum is used to manufacture microbeads and has
many advantages and/or disadvantages to the environment (Green garage, 2015).
Some of the advantages that petroleum can be to the manufacturing of polyethene
Is that it is one of the cheapest and one of the easiest oils to be extracted
and transported to the factories that are in charge (Green garage, 2015).
Density is also an advantage as it can generate a lot of energy. This is good
for the microbeads as it will create a lot of product much quicker (Green
garage, 2015). As these advantages speed up the process of manufacturing
microbeads, petroleum also causes many disadvantages, especially to the
environment (Adams, 2014). The disadvantages are the fact that petroleum contributes
to environmental pollution as it needs to be transported over oceans, in which
can cause an oil spill (Greengarage, 2015). This causes damage to water ways,
marine life and can cause financial problems to those companies who lose
billions of dollars due to this transportation problem (Greengarage 2015). The
production of petroleum leads into the manufacturing of toxic and harmful
materials, just like polyethene (Thefactsabout.co.uk, 2017).
There are many natural alternatives for the use of
microbeads in beauty products (Biome Team, 2016). The alternatives include
powders such as rice powder, argon shell, oatmeal and wheatgrass (Biome Team,
2016). All these natural products exfoliate your skin just as the microbeads
would. As these resources are natural they do not send off toxic chemicals into
our waterways. They are also compressed powders which means they are
biodegradable and will not leave a long-term effect on our environment (Biome
Team, 2016).
Polyethene is a versatile synthetic, organic substance
made from ethylene. Ethylene (C2H4) is a hydrocarbon
which is produced by the cracking of ethane (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2017). This is a major component of natural gas; in this case,
it can be produced by petroleum (Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2017).
When heated, there is a catalyst that is present this
forms a strong double bond between to carbon atoms (Science and Earth,2017)
There is a strong bond which is very difficult for any natural resource to
break this bond. As polyethene is a man-made product is it very hard for any
natural resource to decompose of these materials when released out into the
environment (Ms Simmons, 2017).
Polyethene
microbeads are very small pieces of plastic which are released into our water
ways once an individual uses a beauty product containing these small beads
(Anon,2017). The main problem to using polyethene is that our marine life are
mistaking microbeads for their food (The story of stuff project, 2017). Unfortunately,
this leaves the animal with circulatory and possible digestive blockages,
leaving the animal very ill (Anon, 2017). As we see on the news, a large number
of turtles die or become very ill with malnutrition and starvation due to the
littering and consumption of plastic bags (Beatthemicrobead.org, 2017). In this
case plastic bags are equivalent to the miniature microbeads, they leave fish
and other marine life very ill (Beatthemicrobead.org ,2017) This is a very
dangerous problem as polyethene can become toxic when exposed to high
temperature, this poisons our marine life, and can be a threat to the higher
class of the food chain as we consume these fish etc (Rogers, 2016).
I
personally believe microbeads are quite a toxic product that needs to be
completely banned worldwide. These products that are non-biodegradable are
leaving a huge impact on our environment, especially our water ways and marine
life. It’s not only the microbeads which are leaving this awful impact but it
is the manufacturing of the microbeads. The extraction and transportation of
petroleum is harmful towards our environment especially the marine life.
Thousands of marine lives are dying off due to oil spills. If we continue to
manufacture microbeads we will destroy our planet. This is a small problem
which has great potential to get much bigger. If we don’t stop, we will kill
off many species of our fish, and these toxic products may even work their way
up the food chain to humans. The fish eat these microbeads; we then eat the
fish. This could be very harmful to our health.
Acting
right now on such a big future problem may seem stupid, but if we don’t act now
we may destroy our clean water ways. Individuals can make a change by cutting
out beauty products which contain microbeads. Large companies can make a huge
difference by cutting back on the production of polyethylene. By cutting back
on this, it stops the transport of petroleum this then stops the larger effect on
marine life. Governments however; can
make the biggest difference by banning microbeads completely. The US took this
action last year and already it has made a huge difference. If every other
country took this on board, we could be saving our world from an impact which
may be impossible to fix in the near future.
References
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