Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Polymers and the eco-design transformation. A cosmetic perspective

This review examines the role of polymers in cosmetic products and strategies for eco-design transformation, analyzing the development of environmentally friendly polymer alternatives that maintain cosmetic performance and safety while reducing microplastic pollution, with attention to biodegradability, renewable sourcing, and regulatory requirements across the product lifecycle.

2025 Green Materials
Article Tier 2

Sustentabilidade no processo produtivo da indústria cosmética: uma revisão da literatura

This systematic literature review examined sustainability practices in the cosmetics industry, including the growing concern over microplastic ingredients in cosmetic products. The review identified trends toward greener formulations, sustainable packaging, and consumer-driven pressure for environmental responsibility. The cosmetics sector is increasingly recognizing its environmental impact and exploring alternatives to synthetic microplastics.

2022 Research Society and Development 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards Sustainable Cosmetics Packaging

Not directly relevant to microplastics — this review examines the broader sustainability challenges of cosmetics packaging, including environmental, social, and economic trade-offs, without a specific focus on microplastic pollution.

2023 Preprints.org 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Cosmetics: Open Questions and Sustainable Opportunities

This review examines the role of microplastics in cosmetic products and the industry's transition toward sustainable alternatives as regulations tighten worldwide. Researchers surveyed the properties that make plastic particles useful in cosmetics, such as texture and appearance enhancement, alongside their environmental drawbacks. The study provides an overview of emerging bio-based and biodegradable replacement materials that could help the personal care industry eliminate microplastics from formulations.

2024 ChemSusChem 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Assessment of the Environmental Activities of Major Cosmetics and Personal Care Companies

This paper is not directly about microplastics; it assesses the environmental sustainability activities of major cosmetics and personal care companies, including OEM/ODM manufacturers and retailers, covering broad issues like climate change, waste, and water use.

2023 Sustainability 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Current research trends on cosmetic microplastic pollution and its impacts on the ecosystem: A review

This review examines the presence of microplastics in personal care, cosmetics, and cleaning products and their environmental impact. Researchers assessed the fate, degradation mechanisms, and routes through which cosmetic microplastics enter the environment. The study also discusses emerging technologies for removing cosmetic microplastics and highlights the need for sustainable alternatives to reduce this domestic source of pollution.

2023 Environmental Pollution 108 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics (MPs) in Cosmetics: A Review on Their Presence in Personal-Care, Cosmetic, and Cleaning Products (PCCPs) and Sustainable Alternatives from Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers

This review documents how microplastics are widely used in personal care products, cosmetics, and cleaning supplies as exfoliants, film formers, and texture enhancers. These products wash down the drain and contribute to environmental microplastic pollution, which can ultimately cycle back to humans through contaminated water and food.

2024 Cosmetics 42 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastics and Microplastic in the Cosmetic Industry: Aggregating Sustainable Actions Aimed at Alignment and Interaction with UN Sustainable Development Goals

This review examined how the cosmetics industry uses microplastics and petroleum-derived polymers in product formulations and packaging, and assessed industry efforts to align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Regulatory pressure and bioeconomy policies are accelerating substitution of synthetic microplastics with bio-based alternatives.

2022 Polymers 56 citations
Article Tier 2

Strategy for the development of a new stick formula without microplastics

This study developed a microplastic-free cosmetic stick formula to replace polyethylene, which is commonly used in cosmetics as a structuring agent but passes through wastewater treatment plants and accumulates in aquatic environments. The researchers identified functional alternatives that maintained product performance, demonstrating that microplastic ingredients in personal care products can be eliminated through reformulation without sacrificing quality.

2024 Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Eco-Designing Cosmetic Products while Preserving the Sensorial-Application Properties: An Instrumental Approach toward Sustainable Formulations

Researchers explored eco-design approaches for reformulating cosmetic skin care products using natural and biodegradable ingredients. The study demonstrated that synthetic texturizers like nylon-12 and PMMA could be replaced with starch, maltodextrin, and silica while maintaining sensorial application properties, supporting the reduction of microplastic-generating ingredients in personal care products.

2024 Cosmetics 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Innovative Approaches to an Eco-Friendly Cosmetic Industry: A Review of Sustainable Ingredients

This review examines sustainable alternatives to conventional cosmetic ingredients, including plant-based, microbial, and recycled materials that could replace synthetic and potentially harmful components. While not directly about microplastics, cosmetic microbeads have been a significant source of microplastic pollution, and the push for eco-friendly ingredients helps reduce plastic particles entering waterways. The shift toward sustainable cosmetics is part of broader efforts to decrease human exposure to synthetic microparticles.

2024 Clean Technologies 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Biotechnological Approaches and Policy Frameworks for Sustainable Management of Cosmetic Waste in India

This review classifies physical, chemical, and biological treatment technologies for cosmetic waste in India and calls for stronger regulatory enforcement and integrated approaches, given that cosmetic waste contains complex hazardous components including microplastics, heavy metals, and synthetic polymers.

2025 Current Trends in Biotechnology and Pharmacy
Article Tier 2

Encapsulation of volatile compounds in liquid media: Fragrances, flavors, and essential oils in commercial formulations

Researchers reviewed microencapsulation techniques for fragrances, flavors, and essential oils and found that widely used rigid polymer microcapsules in consumer products release microplastics into wastewater, accounting for roughly 4% of total environmental microplastic load, underscoring demand for biodegradable encapsulation alternatives.

2021 Advances in Colloid and Interface Science 94 citations
Article Tier 2

Research on the Performance of Cosmetics Packaging Materials under the Background of Green Transformation

Researchers systematically analyzed cosmetics packaging materials from three dimensions — material properties, production processes, and recycling pathways — in the context of the global green transformation push. The study identified performance optimization strategies for sustainable cosmetic packaging, highlighting trade-offs between sensory appeal and environmental responsibility.

2025 Frontiers in Computing and Intelligent Systems
Article Tier 2

Towards Sustainable Color Cosmetics Packaging

This paper is not directly about microplastics — it reviews the challenges and strategies for developing sustainable packaging for color cosmetics, focusing on environmental, economic, and consumer behavior factors rather than plastic particle pollution.

2023 Cosmetics 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Applications in the Cosmetic Industry and Impacts on the Aquatic Environment

This review examines how microplastics are used in cosmetics as microbeads in products like exfoliating cleansers, and how these particles enter waterways through drain disposal and harm aquatic life. The authors summarize the main problems caused by cosmetic microplastics and discuss regulatory efforts to phase them out.

2022 Figshare 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products: Impacts on Aquatic Life and Rodents with Potential Alternatives

This review examined microplastics in cosmetics and personal care products as a major environmental source, cataloguing their types and concentrations in commercial formulations and reviewing evidence that they harm aquatic organisms and rodents through ingestion, bioaccumulation, and chemical co-exposure, while also surveying biodegradable alternatives.

2021 Sains Malaysiana 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable encapsulation of lipophilic fragrances using biodegradable sodium alginate for cosmetic applications

Researchers developed a sustainable encapsulation method for lipophilic fragrances using biodegradable sodium alginate, replacing conventional non-biodegradable microplastic-classified shell materials used in cosmetics, food, and detergent industries. The approach offers a viable eco-friendly alternative that reduces microplastic pollution from fragrance encapsulation applications.

2025 Colloids and Surfaces B Biointerfaces
Article Tier 2

SPOT: A Strategic Life-Cycle-Assessment-Based Methodology and Tool for Cosmetic Product Eco-Design

This paper is not directly about microplastics — it presents L'Oréal's SPOT lifecycle-assessment-based eco-design tool for cosmetics products, which aggregates environmental indicators across formula, packaging, manufacturing, and distribution to generate a sustainability rating.

2023 Sustainability 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Biocosmetics: technological advances and future outlook

Researchers reviewed emerging biocosmetics technologies, examining how bio-based and naturally derived ingredients are being extracted and formulated to replace conventional fossil-fuel-derived cosmetic components, with a focus on circular economy manufacturing and biodegradable packaging.

2021 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 158 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainability Schemes in the Cosmetic Industry: Scope, Credibility, and Value Chain Coverage

Despite its title referencing sustainability schemes in cosmetics, this paper studies the credibility and coverage of 24 eco-certification labels used in the cosmetics industry — not microplastic pollution. It examines gaps in lifecycle coverage and greenwashing risks within certification schemes and is not relevant to microplastics or human health.

2026 Sustainability
Article Tier 2

Exploration of microplastics from personal care and cosmetic products and its estimated emissions to marine environment: An evidence from Malaysia

Microplastics including microbeads were quantified in personal care and cosmetic products sold in Malaysia, with scrubs and toothpastes as the top contributors, and estimated emissions to marine environments were calculated. The findings support the case for regulations banning plastic microbeads in cosmetics as a pollution prevention measure.

2018 Marine Pollution Bulletin 216 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterisation, quantity and sorptive properties of microplastics extracted from cosmetics

Researchers extracted microplastics from a specific environmental matrix and characterized their properties — including size, shape, polymer type, and sorption capacity — providing insights into the physical and chemical behavior of environmentally weathered particles.

2015 Marine Pollution Bulletin 935 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of microplastic release from facial and body scrubs in aquatic ecosystems

Researchers analyzed six popular face and body scrub products and found an average of nearly 300 microplastic particles per gram, predominantly made of polyethylene in irregular shapes, estimating that significant quantities of these particles are released into waterways through wastewater treatment systems with each use.

2025 Applied Water Science 13 citations