The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday reiterated its plan to prohibit the import, production and sale of products containing plastic microbeads from Jan. 1, and urged suppliers of such products to adjust their ingredients as soon as possible.
Plastic microbeads are made from materials such as nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and acrylic, EPA Department of Waste Management Interim Director-General Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said.
Usually found in body cleaning products, microbeads pose a risk to marine life and the food chain, and sewage disposal systems cannot filter or eradicate them, Lai said.
Photo: CNA
While some nations realized the harmful effects of microbeads about 20 years ago, the issue did not receive much public attention in Taiwan until Taiwan Watch Institute secretary-general Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖) began to address it in 2012, said Sun Wei-tzu (孫瑋孜), a former member of the institute and a researcher at the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.
People should read the labels on body cleaning products carefully before buying them, Sun said.
The import and manufacture of products containing microbeads will be banned from Jan. 1, and their sale will be banned from July 1, Lai said.
Six kinds of products would be regulated: facial, hair and body cleaners, soaps, exfoliating scrubs and toothpastes, she said.
Earlier this month, the EPA examined 60 samples taken from the products sold on the domestic market and found that 11 of them contained microbeads — six of which were exfoliating scrubs and five were facial cleaners — she said.
Suppliers of the 11 products will be the EPA’s first targets for inspections starting on Jan. 1, Lai said.
The EPA on Nov. 14 announced a set of testing standards to encourage suppliers to examine their products.
When the ban comes into force, people who illegally import or manufacture products containing microbeads would face a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000, the EPA said.
Those selling such products would be fined between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000, and would be required to recall their products, the EPA said.
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