Beauty Store Business

AUG 2016

Beauty Store Business provides solutions for better retailing! New products, industry news, savvy business moves and important trends affecting both brick-and-mortar and online retailers are included in each issue.

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14 August 2016 | beautystorebusiness.com Photography by Armando Sanchez, background image: Gettyimages.com Some personal-care products are polluting our waterways and threatening marine life—which is something beauty consumers ought to know. by Manyesha Batist CHANCES ARE, YOU'VE HEARD OF MICROBEADS, AS THEY'VE BECOME A HOT TOPIC in some news articles and legislation. They are small spherical plastic beads that you just may find in your facial exfoliants or even your toothpastes. Technically, they are microplastics, most likely made up of polypropylene or polyethylene. It turns out that these bits of plastic have made their way from our bathroom sinks into our oceans, into the food chain, and now are officially considered pollutants. Although they are present in personal-care products, not every scrub-type product contains them. But for the products that do contain them, the fact of the matter is that these microplastics are not biodegradable—and they are now impacting our waterways and marine life, making them a cause for concern. At the end of 2015, President Obama signed into law the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which bans the sale or distribution of rinse-off personal-care products containing microbeads. This new law won't fully take effect until 2018, and until then, microbeads will continue to find their way into our waterways, as many consumers continue to unwittingly rinse these plastics down their drains. As a result, organizations such as The 5 Gyres Institute are committed to creatively and strategically making the public aware of this threat to our oceans and marine life that is still lurking in many bathrooms and personal-care regimens. Anna Cummings, executive director and co-founder of The 5 Gyres Institute

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