Six companies ordered to pull products from NSW shelves after EPA finds banned plastic microbeads
Six skincare brands have been forced to pull their products from shelves in New South Wales after testing allegedly found banned plastic microbeads.
Plastic microbeads, once widely used in cosmetics and personal care products, have been banned in washable products in the state for the past three years due to their impact on the environment.
It is also banned in Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT.
On Monday, the NSW Environmental Protection Authority said it had issued compliance notices to Natio, Coles Group, Aesthetics Skincare, Frostbland, McPherson’s Consumer Products and JMSR Australia to recall nine different products from stores since April 2024.
These products include Aesthetics Bio Fermented Triple Action Scrub, Alya Skin Pomegranate Exfoliator Facial Scrub, Jan Marini Cranberry Orange Exfoliator and Dr LeWinn’s Essentials Gentle Exfoliant Weekly Facial Polishing Gel/
The EPA claimed that these products, sold as skin scrubs or scrubs, contained microparticles that could not be captured by wastewater treatment systems and eventually polluted waterways.
EPA director general Tony Chappel said microbeads caused a “significant environmental cost” but noted that companies were moving quickly to pull stockpiles.
“Microbeads do not belong in skin care or our waterways; they can threaten marine life and people’s health,” he said.
“In many cases, the particles are made of bioplastics such as polylactic acid (PLA) and cellulose acetate. Although these components are not derived from fossil fuels, they do not break down easily in the environment and are still described as plastics.”
Mr Price said further investigations were currently ongoing but the EPA was working with major retailers to target products affected by the ban.
“These actions show that our legislation is working to protect the environment and hold suppliers accountable for what they sell,” he said.
In 2016, the Federal Government initiated a voluntary industry-wide phase-out of plastic microbeads, and an evaluation four years later found that 99.3 per cent of products examined did not contain microbeads.
Under NSW law, failure to comply with a compliance notice to cease supply of a product is subject to a maximum penalty of $550,000.
