Microplastic app: How to identify harmful products
With an app you can make it easier to find microplastics in cosmetics and regular products. This practical tip shows you the purpose of the ingredient in cosmetic articles and how you can recognize it.
CodeCheck: Detect microplastics with the app
There are many different ingredients that indicate microplastics. The easiest way to find harmful products is to scan them using the CodeCheck app. The barcode immediately gives you a detailed summary of the ingredients.
- Install the "CodeCheck" app on your Apple or Android device.
- At the start of the setup you will be asked which profile you want to use. The following four are available: General Checker, Beauty Checker, Fit Checker and Green Checker.
- To be warned of microplastics faster, we recommend the "Green Checker" setting. You can change the profile later at any time in the settings.
- If you want to scan a product, go to the start page of the app and select the round blue button at the bottom right of the screen (picture 1).
- Now you can scan any product. Make sure that the barcode is in the red box (picture 2).
- Finally you get a detailed overview of all ingredients. So you can see at first glance whether microplastics are included (picture 3).
Microplastics in cosmetics - the background
Many manufacturers use plastic in their cosmetics to save production costs. Plastic is a cheap alternative to sand or other natural substances. After use, the artificial particles end up in the sewers via drains and poison the environment. These are the most common cosmetics with microplastics:
- Peels: Small plastic particles are supposed to remove dead cells from the skin surface.
- Creams: The material Acrylates Crosspolymer is often used here, which should give the skin a smooth feeling.
- Shampoos: The additive Polyquaternium-7 is said to reduce the tweezing when combing by placing a plastic film over the hair.
Microplastics also in drinking water
Microplastics are used specifically in various products, but our drinking water also contains the plastic particles. For example, tire wear or disintegrating plastic packaging can create microplastics.
- The plastic particles thus get into our water in various ways, whether through the earth, through the air, through rivers or directly through the sewage system.
- Most of the microplastics contain water, here it does not matter whether it comes from bottles or from the pipe. But there are local differences in concentration. The United States and India will soon have twice as much microplastics in drinking water as Europe.
- A study by the environmental organization WWF recently found that every person absorbs about five grams of microplastics in a week. This corresponds to the weight of a credit card.
Plastic waste: this is how you can reduce it
Studies show that around 83 percent of drinking water is full of microplastics. In our next practical tip, we will show you what is really behind it.