CIDESCO, a beauty and spa therapy organization has called on its global membership to help protect the environment and health of the planet by replacing their skincare products containing microbeads with safer alternatives. “Plastic pollution has become a man-made global catastrophe,” says president Anna-Cari Gund. “As a worldwide organization, we know that together our members can make a difference in helping to prevent this situation getting worse. We have, therefore, issued an appeal to all our members to review the products they are using and, where necessary, swap the products containing microbeads with safe alternatives.” Plastic microbeads are used in several cosmetic products, including scrubs, exfoliators, cleansers, and soaps. In California, approximately 471 million plastic beads are released into San Francisco Bay every day. This has resulted in The State Assembly of California passing a bill banning plastic microbeads used in these products with other states in the process of doing the same. The Netherlands has already banned the use of microbeads across the country. “You cannot remove microbeads from the environment as they are too small to catch in water treatment and they don't degrade,” says Steve Malkin, CEO of Planet First, a specialist in sustainable business practice. “The danger is that they will sit in our oceans and lakes forever to be ingested by fish and molluscs, damaging our ecosystems and entering our food chain. The solution is for companies to stop producing products with microbeads and to use natural alternatives. It's better for the planet, us, and our fellow species."
For more information, visit www.cidesco.com.