Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplásticos em água cinza

This study examined microplastic contamination in greywater (household wastewater from washing), finding that laundry and personal care product use introduce significant quantities of microplastics into domestic wastewater streams. The research highlights greywater as an underexamined pathway of microplastic release into water systems.

2024 LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Article Tier 2

Personal Care and Cosmetic Products as a Potential Source of Environmental Contamination by Microplastics in a Densely Populated Asian City

Researchers surveyed personal care and cosmetic products sold in a densely populated Asian city for microbeads and other microplastic ingredients, documenting the extent of microbead-containing products still on the market and estimating their potential contribution to municipal wastewater microplastic loads.

2021 Frontiers in Marine Science 186 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
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

This review examines the presence of microplastics, commonly known as microbeads, in cosmetics and personal care products and their pathway into aquatic environments through wastewater discharge. Researchers assessed how these tiny particles interact with marine species and other pollutants once they enter water bodies. The study underscores that despite the existence of wastewater treatment plants, microbeads from personal care products remain a persistent source of aquatic plastic pollution.

2024 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Physical-chemical characterization of microplastics present in some exfoliating products from Spain

Researchers physically and chemically characterised microplastics from ten personal care exfoliating products marketed in Spain, finding polyethylene microspheres in concentrations between 6-7% of total product weight in some cases. Smaller particles generally appeared at higher concentrations, highlighting these products as a direct source of microplastic pollution entering waterways.

2018 Marine Pollution Bulletin 114 citations
Article Tier 2

Estimation of Microplastics Emitted by Bucharest Households in Wastewater Treatment Plants

Researchers estimated the number of microplastics released by Bucharest households into the municipal wastewater treatment system under three scenarios, finding that washing machines processing synthetic clothing are the dominant source and that face and hand creams generate the highest microplastic load from cosmetics, with effluent concentrations estimated at 48 to 4,251 MP per liter.

2024 Macromolecular Symposia 1 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

An Eco-friendly Alternative to Polyethylene Microbeads in Personal Healthcare Products

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.

2020 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology (IJISRT)
Article Tier 2

Microbeads in Commercial Facial Cleansers: Threatening the Environment

Researchers extracted and analyzed microbeads from four commercial facial cleansers, finding concentrations high enough to raise concerns about environmental release through wastewater. The study adds to the evidence that personal care products are a significant and preventable source of primary microplastics entering aquatic ecosystems.

2017 CLEAN - Soil Air Water 58 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

Microplastic contamination in wastewater: Sources, distribution, detection and remediation through physical and chemical-biological methods

This review covers how microplastics end up in wastewater from sources like textile fibers, personal care microbeads, and broken-down plastic debris, and how they often survive the treatment process. Current removal methods like filtration and chemical degradation are costly and not fully effective. The lack of standardized ways to measure microplastics in wastewater makes it difficult to assess the full scope of human exposure through water systems.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 118 citations
Article Tier 2

Release of primary microplastics from consumer products to wastewater in the Netherlands

Researchers estimated the release of primary microplastics from consumer products — including cosmetics, cleaning agents, and paint — into Dutch wastewater, finding sewage effluent concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 66 μg/L depending on scenario assumptions. All product categories contributed to microplastic loads reaching surface waters via sewage treatment plant effluent.

2015 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 182 citations
Article Tier 2

Analysis and Characterization of Microplastic from Personal Care Products and Surface Water in Bangi, Selangor

This study detected and characterized microplastics from personal care products and surface water samples in Selangor, Malaysia, finding that microbeads from cosmetics were present in waterways. Microbeads are a direct primary microplastic source that is released with every use and passes through most water treatment systems untreated.

2020 Sains Malaysiana 38 citations
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

Microbeads in personal care products sold in Pakistan: extraction, quantification, characterization, and buoyancy analysis

Analysis of twelve personal care products sold in Pakistan — including face washes and scrubs — found plastic microbeads in all of them, ranging from ethylene-vinyl acetate to polyethylene and PET, with most particles sinking in water and therefore likely to settle in aquatic sediments after rinsing. This study underscores the need for stronger regulation of microbead-containing cosmetics in markets where bans have not yet been introduced.

2023 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Reducing microplastics from facial exfoliating cleansers in wastewater through treatment versus consumer product decisions

Researchers characterized the microbeads found in commercial facial exfoliating cleansers — measuring size, polymer type, and quantity — and estimated how many microbeads escape treatment at wastewater plants based on published removal data. The study provides a practical case for banning microbeads from personal care products to reduce plastic loading in freshwater systems.

2015 Marine Pollution Bulletin 257 citations
Article Tier 2

Extraction and Analysis of Microplastic Beads from Personal Care Products

Researchers extracted and characterized polyethylene microbeads from personal care products using hydrogen peroxide/nitric acid digestion followed by FTIR spectroscopy and stereomicroscopy, confirming that three of six facial cleansers tested contained microplastic beads not removed by wastewater treatment, highlighting a direct consumer product pathway to aquatic microplastic pollution.

2022 Current Analytical Chemistry 12 citations
Article Tier 2

The presence of microplastics in personal care and cosmetic products (PCCPs) commonly used in Ho Chi Minh City

Researchers examined 21 personal care and cosmetic products commonly used in Ho Chi Minh City and found that 14 contained microplastics as ingredients. Granular microplastics were the predominant form, with sizes varying widely across product types from toothpaste to exfoliating products. The study aims to support regulation of microplastic-containing ingredients in consumer products in Vietnam to minimize their discharge into the environment.

2024 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Wastewater treatment plant effluents as source of cosmetic polyethylene microbeads to freshwater

Using Ljubljana, Slovenia as a case study, researchers estimated how many polyethylene microbeads from cosmetics pass through a wastewater treatment plant and enter surface waters. The study found that even plants with high removal efficiency still release substantial numbers of microbeads, supporting the case for banning them from personal care products.

2017 Chemosphere 306 citations
Article Tier 2

Incidence of microplastics in personal care products: An appreciable part of plastic pollution

A review of 88 studies found that personal care products like exfoliating scrubs release about 1,500 tons of microplastics per year into global waterways through wastewater systems, representing up to 0.8% of all microplastics entering the oceans annually. Polyethylene is the dominant polymer and will persist in the environment long after microbeads are banned.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 273 citations