Statement on passage of Microbead-Free Waters Act

The Alliance for the Great Lakes applauds the U.S. Senate’s vote today to adopt the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 and encourages President Obama to sign the bill into law when it reaches the White House. We thank Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Rob Portman (R-OH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Mark Kirk (R-OH) for their leadership on this important Great Lakes issue. Today’s vote follows the vote last week in the House where Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) lead this bipartisan effort.

Plastic pollution is a large and growing problem in the Great Lakes, with plastics comprising more than 80 percent of the litter our Adopt-a-Beach™ volunteers find on Great Lakes shorelines. There’s only so much we can do on land to keep debris and pollution out of the water. Swapping plastic microbeads with natural alternatives in products that range from hand wash to facial wash to toothpaste is a sure route to cleaner, safer water.