New bill proposed in the California senate to ban microplastics in cleaning and personal care products.

California Assembly Bill 823 (AB823-Boerner) would ban microplastics from leave-on personal care and beauty products, cleaning products, paints, varnishes and coatings, keeping these tiny but dangerous plastics out of our bodies and out of our environment.

Microplastics enter the human body through our skin, nasal, and oral routes to contaminate multiple organs. Microplastics have become a pervasive pollutant, found in oceans, rivers, soil, the air we breathe, and even inside the human body.

Research has linked microplastics to serious health impacts, including:

• Genotoxicity (damage to genetic material)

• DNA damage

• Decreased cell viability

• Chronic inflammation

• Hormonal and reproductive harm

Epidemiological studies have also raised concerns about links between microplastic exposure and chronic diseases, including cancers affecting the breast, ovaries, lungs, blood, and prostate.

The good news is that safer alternatives exist and we don’t have to continue exposing people to toxic microplastics in cosmetic products, cleaning supplies, and paints.

Preventing the sale and distribution of plastic microbeads in these products would prevent millions of tons of plastic from entering the environment, protect our waterways and drinking water, and protect our health.

AB823 builds on a California law that banned plastic microbeads in rinse-off personal care products in 2015, and that went into effect in 2020, but which allowed the continued use of microbeads in leave-on cosmetics, household cleaners, and industrial detergents and coatings, contributing to ongoing plastic pollution.

On and after January 1, 2027, AB823 would prohibit an entity from selling, distributing, or offering for promotional purposes in California :

1. A personal care product containing plastic microbeads that are used as an abrasive to clean, exfoliate, or polish, in a leave-on personal care product, or

2. A cleaning product containing plastic microbeads that are used as an abrasive to clean, exfoliate, or polish.

On and after January 1, 2028, an entity would be prohibited from selling, distributing or offering for promotional purposes in California any of the following products:

1. A personal care product containing plastic microbeads that are not used as an abrasive.

2. A cleaning product containing plastic microbeads that are not used as an abrasive.

3. A coating containing plastic microbeads that are not used as an abrasive.

At GreenTeam we offer microplastic-free technologies under the “NEVER POLLUTE” principle and we are happy to help you adopt a more sustainable offering for the manufacture of paper coatings, detergents, and cleaning products.