Petition is successful with 7,550 signatures
To: Hon Dr Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment
Ban microbeads in New Zealand
The Government are introducing a ban in June 2018. Well done everyone who supported this campaign!
We call on Minister Nick Smith to ban microbead product types that may potentially be washed down the drain, including both rinse-off and leave-on products, with no exemptions for recycled or 'biodegradable' plastics.
We also call on Nick Smith to not replace plastic microbeads with microbeads made from other persistent solid or wax-like materials that could give rise to similar concerns; we want the deadline for implementation within a reasonable time period after announcement preferably no more than 2 years.
Why is this important?
Microbeads are small pieces of plastic that are found mainly in beauty products, facial scrubs and toothpaste. They have been proven to have a devastating impact on marine life and that they filter through the food chain and have an impact on human diets as well. They have even been found in sea salt. There is no practical way to clean them once they are in the ocean.
Article 23 of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 states that regulations may be put in place to prohibit the manufacture or sale of products that contain specified materials. We therefore call on Hon. Dr. Nick Smith to apply this article to plastic microbeads, including 'biodegradable' plastic microbeads and other similar products that will not break down in our oceans.
https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/
Credit to 5Gyres for the picture.