Wisconsin Joins in On Microbead Ban, Other States Follow

Wisconsin is joining New York and Illinois in elliminating polyethylene microbeads from cosmetics. Wisconsin's state senate passed a bill that will prohibit the production of products containing microbeads beginning in 2018, and bans selling by 2019.

Last year, Illinois became the first state in the United States to ban the sale and manufacture of personal care products containing microbeads, which was introduced through Illinois legislation bill SB2727. The law aims to prohibit the manufacture of such products by the end of 2018 and the sale of products by the end of 2019. However, a number of state legislatures in the United States have targeted and even outlawed microbeads in the past few weeks.

New Jersey recently signed a microbead ban into law. On Mar. 23, 2015, Governer Chris Christie signed legislation that bans the manufacturing and sale of plastic microbeads in cosmetic products in the state. The law calls for a ban on the manufacturing of microbeads by Jan. 1, 2018, prohibits the sale and promotion of items with microbeads by Jan. 1, 2019, and prohibits the sale of drugs containing plastic microbeads by Jan. 1, 2020.  

Indiana and Connecticut are also in the process of considering the ban of microbeads in their respective states.