We are proud to announce that the Beat the Microbead campaign by the Plastic Soup Foundation is among the ten finalists of the Katerva Behavioural Change Award 2017. The Award recognizes initiatives that strive to make a difference at the worldwide level through raising awareness, sharing information and stimulating positive behavior change.
Since 2012, the Plastic Soup Foundation’s Beat the Microbead campaign has urged consumers to avoid using cosmetics that contain microbeads. Since then, most multinationals have announced that they will remove these microbeads from their products. In December 2015, President Obama led the field by signing the Microbead-Free Waters Act. As of 1 July 2017, producers in the United States of America will be banned from using microbeads in cosmetics. From 1 July 2018, cosmetics containing microbeads may not be sold anymore.
The Canadian government went a step further and classified microbeads as toxic in order to be able to ban them. The New Zealand Minister of the Environment, Nick Smith, announced the ban last week of the sale of cosmetics containing microbeads from 1 July 2018 onwards.
Maria Westerbos, director of the Plastic Soup Foundation, is happy with the nomination. “We are honoured that Katerva has nominated the Beat the Microbead campaign as a finalist of the Behavioural Change Award 2017. With the help of consumers and the Beat the Microbead coalition of 88 NGOs in 38 countries, we have been able to achieve a lot.”
Picture: Katerva