The European Union has embarked on an unprecedented fight against plastic waste. At the beginning of last year the European Commission launched the first strategy on plastics, and imminent measures have already been announced, such as a ban on single-use plastics that will become effective in a few years.
With regard to microplastics, scientific and citizen concern is also increasing, and their effects and risks to human health and ecosystems are just beginning to be studied, but we already know that it is a ‘silent’ pollution that it is everywhere. Although its main source is the degradation of macroplastics, there is also a contribution of microplastic particles that are intentionally added to everyday products such as cleansers, exfoliants and other cosmetics, since they improve their properties.
Well, the European Chemical Products Agency (ECHA) has just issued a restriction proposal for these particles. If the measure were adopted, in the next twenty years the contribution of microplastics to the environment from the European Union could be reduced by 400,000 tons.
Background
In early 2018, the European Commission asked ECHA to assess the scientific evidence with a view to adopting EU-wide legislative action on microplastics deliberately added to products of any kind. As a result of its investigation, the agency has just published a report that warns that microplastics added in cosmetic products have a high potential to accumulate in terrestrial ecosystems , since these particles are often concentrated in sewage sludge than with They are very often used as fertilizer in agriculture, a problem that we have already discussed and that Spanish scientists from the IMDEA Water Institute are studying in depth.
Once released, microplastics can be extremely persistent in the environment, and although their long-term impact cannot currently be determined, the amount of these particles already present in ecosystems is more than enough to be considered a cause for concern. . And it is that microplastics can remain in the environment for thousands of years and are practically impossible to eliminate.
ECHA considers that the use of microplastics in products that are eventually released into the environment is not well controlled and the restriction it proposes would cover a very wide range of items: cosmetics, detergents, maintenance products, paints and coatings, building materials, products used in agriculture and even medicines. In addition, it justifies its action throughout the territory of the European Union, since mixtures that contain microplastics and serve as the basis for the production of different products can be made in some countries and transported to others to finish the process, so the measure would lose effectiveness if it were only implemented at the national level in a few countries.
The agency has published its proposed restriction on microplastics at the same time as others on formaldehyde and siloxanes D4, D5 and D6. The full report consists of 145 pages that amply justify the proposed restriction and can be downloaded here.
