India's National Green Tribunal takes up the case for banning microbeads

=​The country’s National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to the ministries of environment and water resources, asking them to respond to the case for the ban of microplastics in personal care products.

The move follows the Australian government's recent call​ for retailers to begin voluntarily removing or reformulating any products that contain the small beads of plastic, which have been found to cause damage to marine life and act as pollutants in water systems. 

Advocate plea​

The issue of microbeads was brought before India’s NGT by advocate Sumeer Sodhi, according to the Deccan Chronicle, who made the case for why the issue falls under the country’s Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

“The unregulated production and usage of plastics in microbeads in various cosmetics products available in the market and the excessive usage of such products by the end-users is leading to water pollution across the globe​,” the plea put forward.

The issue will be taken up at a second hearing on April 18, where the responses to the plea of the ministries of environment and water resources will be put forward.

Microbeads​

Microbeads are tiny balls of plastic that, until recently, had seen widespread use across the global beauty and personal care industry. Although sometimes functional as an aid for dead skin removal and deep cleansing, on the whole, microbeads perform merely a decorative function.

The momentum against the plastic particles has been building steadily since about 2012, when Unilever became the first major multinational to commit to eliminating microbead use.

In what is maybe the most decisive move against microbeads so far, in December, US president Barack Obama signed a bill against the plastic particles, known as the Microbead-Free Waters Act.