Background
Each year, around 922 tonnes of microplastics and approximately 23,700 tonnes of dissolved, gel-like and liquid polymers are used in cosmetics in Germany. Wastewater treatment plants are often unable to filter out these substances, and they end up in oceans and rivers, or on agricultural fields when sewage sludge is used as a fertilizer. And they can also spread through the air. Microplastics have been found in 69 percent of fish samples taken from the North and Baltic Seas, as well as in food – and in people. Microplastics absorb harmful substances, and they also take a long time to decompose. The ramifications have not been fully researched yet, but it can be assumed that microplastics have a negative impact on ecosystems. The negative effects of dissolved, gel-like and liquid polymers on organisms can also not be ruled out.