DENVER – The Colorado Senate this week gave initial approval to a measure that would ban tiny bits of plastic used in personal-care products.
Known as “microbeads,” the plastic is included in soaps and cosmetic products to be used as an exfoliator. But studies found that the beads have made their way through water-filtration systems, ending up in rivers and other water sources.
Concerns have grown that the tiny particles can end up being consumed by fish, or even humans.
“Those water utilities in Colorado have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to make sure that the drinking water is safe and that the water that’s put back for farmers and other folks downstream is also safe,” said Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik, R-Thornton.
Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa, also supported the bill, but joked that he worried that the ban would impact a woman’s beauty.
“I wrestled with this bill harder than any other bill I’ve had to date,” Crowder said. “The very idea of our facial cream, if the ladies had to give the beads up, would that affect the beauty of the ladies in which we deal with on a daily basis? I say, my fellow Americans, I was assured that it would not. So, therefore I will be a ‘yes’ vote on this. ... I hope this is the right vote because I want the ladies to stay pretty.”
Lawmakers who were expecting a fight on the measure found that producers such as Johnson & Johnson actually support the ban and have committed to phasing out microbeads even without government regulation. Companies are replacing the tiny plastic particles with biodegradable exfoliators.
Still, state lawmakers are moving forward with the ban, which would eliminate the products in Colorado by 2020. Fines as high as $10,000 have been proposed.
The Senate is poised to give final approval to the bill as early as Wednesday. If it passes, then the measure would be sent to the governor for his signature.
A handful of Republicans objected to the measure, suggesting that the legislation is “much ado about nothing,” adding that the companies are regulating themselves without government intervention.
“The scope of this ... (is) microscopic,” said Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud. “Not just that these are small beads, but if you consider the literally billions of gallons of water that the water-treatment plants deal with, we are talking about a very tiny fraction ... of what’s really being dealt with here.”