Local lawmakers are pushing to get legislation passed to get plastics out of the state’s water sources and environment.
Democratic Senators Jeff Irwin and Sue Shink are among those who have introduced a series of bills aimed at reducing the dangers of microplastics and microbeads.
Irwin’s bill would ban the manufacture and sale of microbeads in Michigan. He says they have been prevalent in many personal care, cleaning and air freshener products.
“We’ve learned that those microbeads can be replaced. There are effective alternatives, and it doesn’t make sense to continue to wash these microplastics and these microbeads down the drain.”
Microplastics are smaller than a grain of rice and have been found in drinking water drawn from the Great Lakes. They also have been found in fish and can collect in the human body over time.
Shink’s bill would create a microplastics research and monitoring plan.
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