The plastics industry says it supports a new law that phases out plastic microbeads starting in 2017.
US President Barack Obama last week signed the law, which bans personal-care products from containing microbeads and aims to help remove plastic pollution from water supplies.
The law defines microbeads as “any solid plastic particle that is less than 5 millimeters in size,” and prohibits soaps, body washes, toothpaste and other personal-care products from containing the traditional plastic or bioplastic beads as of July 1, 2017. The law also prohibits the sale of products containing microbeads as of July 1, 2019.