In New Zealand, personal care product companies are turning to natural alternatives to microbeads in their exfoliating products amid bans.
L’Oreal New Zealand group corporate communications manager Tanya Abbott tells Stuff the skincare giant is using mineral-based ingredients like clays and the powder of fruit kernels.
Antipodes’ Deborah Sampson added that the company’s products are using biodegradable jojoba beads. “What makes jojoba so unique compared to other seed oils is that jojoba oil is structurally and chemically very similar to the human sebum,” she added. The company had never used microbeads to begin with, she added.
Meanwhile, beauty retailer The Warehouse stocks products containing crushed almond shell, oats, crushed walnut shell, kiwifruit seeds, jojoba seeds, rice and sugar.
Retailers that use microbeads past 7 June could be fined up to $100,000, according to Stuff.