The ban will take effect six months after World Trade Organisation notification

New Zealand will ban the sale and manufacture of wash-off products containing plastic microbeads earlier than previously expected, Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson says.

The ban will take effect six months after World Trade Organisation notification, which will take place when the regulations are gazetted in November. Microbeads will be fully banned in New Zealand by May 2018.

Environment Minister Nick Smith had earlier indicated the ban would not come into force until July next year.

About 100 personal care products in New Zealand contain the tiny plastic beads. It is estimated about 10,000 tonnes a year of plastic microbeads are used globally. They are usually used for exfoliation or polishing.

There are concerns about their impact on the marine environment, because they get through filtration systems and are ingested by marine life.

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"Microbeads pose a high risk to our aquatic and marine environments. They are too small to retrieve or recycle, do not biodegrade, and are mistaken by marine life for food, causing long-term damage to marine animals," Simpson said.

"We consulted in January 2017 on a proposal to ban microbeads in personal care products like facial cleansers and toothpastes. We received over 16,000 submissions that all supported a ban. Many submitters urged the Government to broaden the scope of the proposed ban to include other products containing microbeads.

"In response, we have widened the scope of the ban to include all 'wash-off' products for visual appearance, exfoliating, cleansing or abrasive cleaning purposes that contain plastic microbeads. As well as personal care products, this includes household, car or other cleaning products."

Retailers have already taken steps to take microbeads off shop shelves.

New World, Pak'n Save and Four Square stores stopped selling all microbead products on July 1.

Foodstuffs and Countdown had already removed the beads from their own brand products.

Trisia Farrelly, a lecturer at Massey University and co-founder of the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council, welcomed the move. She has been vocal in her criticism of the harm caused by single-use plastics such as microbeads.

"This is very good news for all New Zealanders," she said.

"The New Zealand Product Stewardship Council applaud the Minister for not only banning cosmetic microbeads; but for expanding the ban to capture a broader range of consumer products. It is particularly encouraging to know that the Minister recognises the deleterious effects of microbeads regardless of their low volume."

Seafood NZ also offered its support for the move.

Chief executive Tim Pankhurst said microbeads' impact on oceans and marine life was well known.

"Research tells us that fish eat the tiny particles, rather than their normal food sources, and often die of starvation – or do not mature."

The seafood industry also welcomed the decision to widen the scope of the ban from just beauty products to all car, cleaning and household products using microbeads.

"The sooner these hazards are replaced with safer alternatives the better and we applaud the government for expediting the ban," Pankhurst said.

Farrelly said the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council would continue to lobby for a levy on single-use plastic bags and the product stewardship of all single-use plastics.

"We recognise that, despite the low volume they represent in the waste stream, single-use plastic bags are notorious for breaking down into microplastics in a wide range of environmental conditions and ecosystems to share the same hazardous properties as microbeads."