Major retailers including Mecca, Sephora and ASOS have been ordered to remove banned microbead products from sale in New South Wales after an investigation by the state’s Environment Protection Authority found illegal plastics in skincare items.
The NSW EPA identified 12 products, including scrubs and exfoliators, sold by eight companies that contained tiny plastic beads prohibited from sale.
Compliance stop notices have been issued requiring the products to be removed from shelves. Retailers who fail to comply face fines of up to $550,000, with additional penalties of $55,000 for each day the notices are ignored.
The microbeads can be as small as a grain of sand and are too small to be captured by wastewater treatment systems, according to the authority.
“Once they enter the environment, they can then be taken up into the food chain,” Claire Miles, the NSW EPA’s acting director of investigations and compliance, said.
The authority said the plastics do not readily biodegrade and are almost impossible to remove from the environment because of their size.
New South Wales introduced a ban on the plastics in 2022. Ms Miles said it was disappointing that products containing them remained available, particularly from large retailers with a wide reach.
“Microbeads do not belong in personal skincare or in our waterways and so we’re really encouraging the community to be very vigilant and check the back of the products that you’re purchasing,” she said.
Consumers who suspect a product contains banned plastics can report it to the NSW EPA, which said it would investigate.
