Environmental groups try again for microbead ban in California

Caelan Wright got a close look at a natural bubble bath at LUSH Tuesday April 15, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. LUSH products use natural ingredients instead of plastic microbeads in their skin and bathing items. A bill in the legislature would require all companies to begin using natural exfoliates. less Caelan Wright got a close look at a natural bubble bath at LUSH Tuesday April 15, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. LUSH products use natural ingredients instead of plastic microbeads in their skin and bathing ... more Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Environmental groups try again for microbead ban in California 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Rinse and repeat — that’s how environmental groups are responding to their narrow defeat this year in the California Legislature on a bill to ban microbeads, the tiny plastic particles in a wide variety of skin cleansing products.

Next year, expect to see a second application in California at banning the bead, said Stiv Wilson, associate director of the 5 Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, which studies marine plastic debris and is backing bills that phase out microbeads.

Researchers say the nonbiodegradable microbeads are rinsed down drains, pass through wastewater treatment plant filters and wind up in rivers and oceans, where they endanger marine life.

Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, introduced a bill in California in February that would have required microbead products to be off shelves by Jan. 1, 2016, but it fell one vote short of passing the state Legislature. Bloom plans to carry a similar bill in 2015.

“I think we will win this year,” Wilson said. “We’re going over drafts right now and building a broader coalition to sponsor this.”

Prevalence of particles

Wilson said during the last legislative session, many environmental groups were focused on the statewide plastic bag ban — which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law — and that now attention can be focused on microbeads.

The industry trade group Personal Care Products Council opposed Bloom’s bill, saying it included an “aggressive and unrealistic” timeline that doesn’t fully take into account the time it takes to find a safe product that can be widely used. The council praised lawmakers in Illinois, which became the first state with a microbead ban, for allowing a more lenient timeline for prohibiting the manufacture of microbeads starting Dec. 31, 2017, and gave an additional year for previously manufactured products with microbeads to be sold.

Manufacturers initially turned to the tiny plastic particles because they are cheaper and generally don’t cause allergic reactions while giving consumers the feeling of a deep clean. A bottle of facial cleanser can have tens of thousands of the microbeads. The campaign against microbeads has caught the attention of consumers, many of whom have turned to products with natural exfoliants such as ground almond shell, polenta and sugar.

Researchers at the 5 Gyres Institute found microbeads prevalent everywhere from oceans to the Great Lakes to the Los Angeles River. Marine life mistake the microbeads for food, which is troublesome given that the plastic particles can absorb pollutants in the water before being consumed and entering the food chain, Wilson said.

Several large companies have already stopped using plastic microbeads, while others have pledged to take them out of production. Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal and Colgate-Palmolive said they will phase out microbeads in the next few years. Procter & Gamble, the parent company of Crest toothpaste, said most of their products will be microbead-free by March 2015, while the rest will be by March 2016.

But lawmakers and environmental groups say a select and voluntary industry cleanup isn’t enough. Wilson said California’s bill met fierce industry opposition, while a bill in New Jersey sailed through. He said the difference came down to a loophole in the New Jersey bill, which allows for bioplastics made from polylactic acid to replace the polyethylene and polypropylene plastic currently used.

“It’s a bait and switch,” Wilson said. “It would supplant one evil for another evil that reacts the same in the environment.”

Wilson said environmental groups discovered this loophole after the New Jersey state Legislature unanimously passed a bill Oct. 23 that would phase out microbeads starting in 2018. The measure is awaiting Gov. Chris Christie’s signature or veto.

Some of the bill’s supporters are asking Christie for a “conditional veto,” which would allow the Legislature fix the loophole before sending it back to the governor for a signature.

FDA evaluation sought

Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration urging the agency to evaluate the safety of microbeads in toothpastes and gum after concerns were raised that the plastic particles could become lodged between teeth, trapping bacteria.

Pallone and Gillibrand both have bills in their respective houses to ban microbeads in personal care products by January 2018.

“Plastic microbeads are seriously harming our environment, and the only way to begin reversing the damage is to get them out of our products, including our toothpaste,” Gillibrand said in a statement.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez