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An Eco-friendly Alternative to Polyethylene Microbeads in Personal Healthcare Products
Summary
This paper proposes eco-friendly, biodegradable alternatives to polyethylene microbeads used as exfoliants in personal care products like shower gels. Replacing synthetic plastic microbeads with natural materials would reduce a direct source of microplastic pollution entering waterways through drain runoff.
Recently a huge chunk of the population has shifted towards shower gels. The biggest reason might be the fact that shower gels can provide a better care for the skin. They were made with the motive of providing gentle cleansing and moisturizing qualities contrary to that of a regular soap, so that the people can enjoy a better skin care experience. Shower gels generally use chemicals especially sodium lauryl sulfate and betaines. These are believed to cause skin irritation and may not be washed off properly especially in hard water. The recent shower gels have a combined scrubbing effect included along with the scented or flavored body wash. For the scrubbing activity microbeads are employed. These microbeads used as a scrubber are polymers, e.g. being polyethylene or nylon etc. We know how plastics are harmful to us and the environment. And this is a cause of major concern. And since it is small in size it makes it relatively dangerous. Microbeads, because of their small size, have a large surface area by volume which allows them to accumulate highly toxic materials which are toxic to the person and the environment. To overcome the menace of microbeads we propose an alternative
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