Britain's top four supermarkets have pledged to remove ‘toxic microbeads’ from their own-brand products, amid growing pressure over the damage that the beads cause to the environment, reports the Daily Mail.
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are all set to remove plastic microbeads from beauty products, reports the newspaper, with Tesco committed to fully removing the beads from its products by 2017.
Other stores, such as Boots, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Next, Aldi and Superdrug, are also seeking to make the change to their products.
The British Retail Consortium commented to the newspaper, 'Major high-street retailers are working to remove microbeads from own-brand products, with many having achieved this target already.
‘While there may still be products on the shelf and in use by consumers, the number of such units will be diminishing.’
The BRC told the Daily Mail that although supermarkets are in control of the ingredients they use in their own products, they do not have the right to dictate to others.
However, Waitrose has announced that after this week, it will no longer sell products that use beads, while Tesco has stated that it is ‘encouraging' manufacturers not to use them.
A single shower using the microbeads means that 100,000 plastic particles will enter the sewage system, with the tiny pellets ending up in the sea and being consumed by marine life, reports the paper.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Aoife Lawless. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
