Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the environmental benefits of banning microbeads in June 2018.

The ban on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products in 2018 was developed based on evidence of harm to the marine environment from microplastics, and specifically evidence of microbeads directly entering the marine environment through the water treatment process. It aimed to create a level playing field between businesses that had already taken voluntary action and those that continued to use microbeads. An impact assessment was carried out before the ban was implemented. The impact assessment can be found here:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2017/178/pdfs/ukia_20170178_en.pdf.

More evidence is required to understand the full impact of microplastics, including microbeads, on the marine environment. We have been working to understand other sources of microplastics into the marine environment. This includes a Defra funded study, which investigated the sources and pathways of microplastics from tyres and textiles into the ocean:

http://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=0&ProjectID=20110.