No Added Microbeads

What
is a Microbead?
To read, in detail, about microbeads and the damage they are causing to our environment, you can go to my article here >
In summary, here, microbeads are teeny tiny little plastic
particles that are commonly used in products ranging from exfoliating skincare
to toothpaste to household goods. The little plastic beads are so tiny that
after they have been washed down the drainpipe and enter the water filtration
process, they cannot be captured and escape to pollute our lakes and seas.
The sea-life in our water then eat these tiny particles. And
if the sea-life is a fish which is then caught and ends up on your dinner plate
at home or in a restaurant, then you too eat the plastic particles.
If
Microbeads are Polluting our Waters Why Are They Still Used in Products?
Great question!
Microbeads can be manufactured in huge
quantities at a very low cost so they are cheaper to use in products than
natural alternatives like salt, sugar, or even fruit seeds and nut granules. As
they are cheaper to use and large brands are very focused on their bottom line,
they have been the ingredient of choice.
There is a growing movement, initiated in The Netherlands by
the Plastic Soup Foundation, that has been encouraging companies to stop using
microbeads in their products and become listed on their website. Simply Skin
is, of course, one such brand that is listed as, as you know, I prefer to
create high-quality, luxurious products using natural ingredients wherever
possible.
Very slowly governments are having their eyes opened to the
environmental damage being caused by microbeads and they are gradually
introducing a ban on their use. But progress is slow. Only a few countries such
as Norway have taken this step to ban their use and those bans take years to
enforce as large brands have a lot of money tied up in stock.
There are a growing number of large brands who are
volunteering to remove microbeads from their products before it becomes a legal
requirement but, again, they can only do so after they sell their current stock
and this will take a number of years.
Personally, I would recommend buying from a brand listed on
the Plastic Soup Foundation website. That way you know you are not contributing
to this growing environmental issue.
Significance
of the Wording of this Logo
When I first created this logo the text inside was
“Microbead-Free”. But since then I have read a few heart-breaking articles
which have confirmed that microbeads have since been found in sea salts taken from a number
of European waters. To filter out these plastic microbeads from the salt
granules is impossible because they are so minute.
So I felt it necessary to adjust the wording on the logo to be
more transparent.
In my exfoliating products that contain Dead Sea Salt such as
Spa Salt Scrubs, Foot Soak and Foot Scrub I can honestly say that there have
been no microbeads added in their production. However, with a heavy heart, I
cannot say in total honesty that the salts that are supplied to me, even though
I use the best suppliers available, cannot be guaranteed to be microbead-free.
Unfortunately the problem has become so serious and so endemic that it is no
longer possible to honestly declare that my products are 100% microbead-free. I
hope they are but, sadly, I can no longer guarantee it.
And microbeads in the salts that I use in my products are not
the only concern. If microbeads could exist in the salts I use, they are highly
likely to exist in the table salt that many people use in cooking. It’s so sad
that we have allowed this issue to escalate to such a massive scale.