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Silica the Best Environmental Alternative to Plastic Microbeads
Microbeads have been included in personal care and cosmetic products ranging from toothpastes and sunscreen to body scrubs and industrial hand cleaners, usually to improve qualities like abrasiveness, but these small plastic pellets end up in the marine ecosystem where they accumulate and are ingested by marine organisms causing much harm.
This has led to them being banned in wash-off cosmetics in many regions, including the UK. Now, a research team from Imperial College London have assessed 29 alternatives to microbeads for their environmental impact.
They found that silica, a naturally occurring and abundant mineral, was the best alternative, performing overall better than plastic microbeads across all categories.
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