Governor Pence signs law banning microbeads

Indiana Governor Mike Pence ceremonially signed into law the band on synthetic plastic microbeads, a common additive to personal care products designed to exfoliate or cleanse.

The microbeads are made of petroleum and are not biodegradable.

A study by State University of New York at Fredonia and The 5 Gyres Institute in  2012 found Lake Michigan had an average of 17,000 microbeads per square kilometer. Lake Ontario's levels were 1.1 million plastic particles per square kilometer.

The law says after December 31, 2017, no one can manufacture personal care products, except over the counter drugs, with synthetic plastic microbeads.

After December 31, 2018, a person cannot accept for sale a personal care product containing synthetic plastic microbeads.

After December 31, 2019, synthetic plastic microbeads cannot be used in over the counter drugs.

An app created by The 5 Gyres Institute has a free app to help you determine if a product contains the synthetic microbeads.

If you have products with synthetic plastic microbeads, you can dispose of them at certain drop off locations along with unwanted medications. Click here for locations.