What are microplastics and how can we reduce them in mainstream paints?

Microplastics, microbeads and nano particles are so tiny (measuring 0.006 to 1 millimetre, but they can be up to 5mm) that they are now everywhere!

We are probably all inadvertently responsible for this as it is not mandatory to be told when they are used in a product and only a small number of their uses has been outlawed. Furthermore, plastics that are dumped in soils or water are being broken down to become microplastics.

Microplastics ingested by marine animals harm their health, even resulting in death – many of them are also fish that end up in the human food chain.

They are most frequently made of polyethylene and are widely used in all sorts of products as the addition of microbeads gives abrasion and durability qualities to face scrubs, toothpastes, cleaning products and paints. Recent research indicates that paints alone are responsible for up to 180,000 tonnes of ocean plastic pollution annually – 6 times more that cosmetics.

They can damage the digestive system because the polymers contain toxic monomers such as methyl methacrylate or additives used in the manufacture of the plastic. Once in the water, plastic microbeads attract persistent organic pollutants like flame retardants and other industrial chemicals linked to human health problems (including cancer). A single plastic microbead can be 1 million times more toxic than the water around it and there is concern that these chemicals can migrate from the particles into the tissues of animals that have ingested them.

It is also now known that these micro plastic particles are small enough to be inhaled by people and once in the lungs they can cross into the circulation system and get into the blood. Microbeads are attractive to pathogenic bacteria which thrive on biofilms around the particles.

New research suggests that the presence of microbeads in the ocean may contribute to the spread of infectious diseases from one region to another and that they are also to be found in the air we breathe, even indoors.

So if they pose these sorts of dangers why are we not being told about them? Search me, but it is another example of where, by taking responsibility for our choices, we can try to avoid them.

But we have to ask, because what the manufacturers using them think we want to know about is the ‘to good to be true’ features of the products we are buying for our body care or that ‘fully wipeable’ paint for our walls.

Microbeads are added to both water-based and solvent-based paints as an inert additive. They impart abrasion resistance and durability, as well as reducing gloss levels where this is required. As with cosmetics, the microbeads used in paints are uniformly sized plastic polymers such as polymethylmethacrylate. They are added in ratio up to 8% by volume, meaning that many thousands of microbeads are present in each litre of paint.

Manufacturers are naturally reluctant to comment on which paint products use microbeads, however major brands in Europe use these products. A good reason to suspect their presence is when a very matt paint is still fully washable. I believe that the clue can be in the name…I do wonder if an ‘intelligent’ or ‘modern’ attached to a paint name signals that it contains added microbeads? Who knows, but we must surely all start asking!

We also need to ask – which is more important? clean oceans, clean rivers, clean air….or clean walls?!

This is not to say that I believe we should put up with everything being dirty, but by taking responsibility for our choices we can get the balance right. I find that I can clean most marks off our emulsion or eggshell paint just using our plant soap, which definitely does not contain ANY microbeads or anything that could turn into a microplastic!

Despite the obvious threats to health, there are no moves to legislate against their use in paint in any country in the EU.

I believe that the routes of contamination of the environment by microbeads used in paint are obvious; either by washing out brushes, or the disposal of paint to landfill. There is a real risk of exposure to humans – either escaping from paint or from painted walls as paint films degrade, or from painted surfaces that are sanded down prior to repainting – it is something that we all need to take responsibility for, even if product makers do not!

-Words by Edward Bulmer