Research published over the past year has revealed a new
threat to lake health coming from an unlikely source: face wash. The companies that make face and body wash
have been increasingly using tiny plastic “microbeads”. The microbeads, often under one millimeter in
diameter slip through most waste water treatment systems. Their ability to stay suspended in liquids is
both part of what makes plastic microbeads popular with manufacturers and part
of what makes them so problematic (once floating in open water they resemble
insect eggs and other food sources to fish).
The accumulations in lakes and rivers are beginning to alarm scientist
who are just starting to understand the ecological implications. The microbeads in our cleaning products
threaten to introduce the bioaccumulation problem into more Midwestern food
webs, potentially even impacting people who catch and eat fish from lakes.
Recently scientists from Canada reported measurable
concentrations of plastic microbeads in the river sediment of the St. Lawrence
River. Their findings indicate that
plastic concentrations in river sediment are similar to the most contaminated
ocean sediment samples. No research has
been done yet to look at how microbeads are impacting smaller inland lakes and
rivers. However, it is highly likely that
microbeads are being carried along with treated wastewater from municipal
systems that discharge into rivers or lakes.
We also know very little about how microbeads move and affect septic
systems. Since some septic waste is
pumped and then treated at municipal plants, they too could be delivering
plastic debris to the environment.
What can we do: The
simplest remedy is to stop buying and using products that contain microbeads. This includes soaps, toothpaste, and certain
makeup products. There is an app to help
consumers determine if a product has microbeads. Download the Beat the Microbead app to your smartphone. Simply scan a product’s bar bode to learn if
it contains microbeads. You can also
tell by liking for the ingredients polyethylene
or polypropylene.
Microbeads from toothpaste |
“Lakes Tide” Volume 39, No. 4 Fall/Winter 2014: 1-3. Print