Micro Beads | UPSC

Micro beads

• Microbeads are manufactured solid plastic particles of less than one millimeter in their largest dimension.
• They are most frequently made of polyethylene but can be of other petrochemical plastics such aspolypropylene and polystyrene.
• They are used in exfoliating personal care products, toothpastes and in biomedical and health-science research.
• When microbeads are washed down the drain, they subsequently pass unfiltered through sewage treatment plants and make their way into rivers and canals, resulting in plastic particle water pollution

Microbeads can cause plastic particle water pollution and pose an environmental hazard for aquatic animals in freshwater and ocean water.