The ban on plastic beads will start in this category

The "plastic restriction" action of the cosmetics industry, along with the documents frequently issued by major regulatory authorities, is gradually being implemented.

Today, the National Development and Reform Commission announced to the public the "Catalogue of Plastic Products Prohibited, Restricted from Production, Sales, and Use (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinion Draft"), which initially clarified the categories affected by the "Plastic Restriction Order" of daily chemical products Opened the industry's recent mystery about plastic beads.

According to the opinion draft, "daily chemical products containing plastic microbeads" are "leaching cosmetics (including shower gels and cleansers that play a role of scrub, exfoliation, cleaning, etc., and intentionally add solid plastic particles with a particle size of less than 5 mm. , Hand soap, soap, shaving foam, scrub, shampoo, conditioner, makeup remover / oil) and toothpaste, tooth powder ".

As early as January 1 this year, the National Development and Reform Commission last year issued the "Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalog (2019 Version)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidance Catalog"). The guidance category in the third category elimination category clearly stated, The daily use of plastic microbeads will be banned on December 31, 2020, and will not be sold on December 31, 2022. "

This means that products such as cleansers, shower gels and shampoos containing plastic beads will be banned at the end of this year, and will not be sold at the end of the year.

The focus of leaching products is limited

Sun Shurong, the manager of the regulatory department of Polaia Cosmetics Co., Ltd., said that the National Development and Reform Commission today issued a draft for comment because it was not clearly defined in the guidance catalog last year what kind of products are "daily chemicals containing plastic beads", and it is difficult for enterprises The implementation was implemented on the ground, and this time the draft for consultation has been basically defined as a rinse product.

A raw material supplier in Guangzhou revealed that the reason why the industry is keen to use plastic microbeads in products is on the one hand because it can be made into a variety of specifications, on the other hand because of the relatively low cost and short delivery cycle.

However, judging from the market response, this wave of "plastic restrictions" will not have much impact on the industry in the short term.

On the one hand, it has been a long time since foreign countries banned plastic microbeads in leaching products. Regarding the harm of plastic microbeads, it has also been widely concerned in China in recent years.

According to incomplete statistics, Canada, France, Italy, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Thailand and other countries have successively issued policies to prohibit the production and related products containing plastic beads to varying degrees For sale, the bans in some countries only involve some categories such as rinsing, such as the United Kingdom, while the bans in some countries already cover all categories of cosmetics, such as Italy and South Korea.

On the other hand, with the use of natural plants, natural minerals, and synthetic granular raw materials in daily chemical products in recent years, the cost has not changed much, even if the cost of some synthetic granular raw materials is relatively high. Customers are willing to accept that the replaceability of plastic microbeads has become higher and higher, and many daily chemical manufacturers have begun to replace plastic microbeads a few years ago.

A Shanghai-based cosmetics raw material manufacturer also said that because many domestic foreign trade factories were the first to come into contact with the ban on plastic microbeads abroad, they have started to look for alternatives earlier. Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission ’s guidance catalog promoted the replacement of plastic microbeads more clearly. Raw material manufacturers have also been promoting alternative materials for plastic microbeads, such as the use of walnut shells in bathing and frosting products. , Alternative raw materials for cellulose materials, etc.