{"id":4212,"date":"2016-04-08T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=4212"},"modified":"2018-08-14T16:09:45","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T22:09:45","slug":"pcc-biodegradable-microbead-alternatives-trending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/4212\/pcc-biodegradable-microbead-alternatives-trending\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Biodegradable Microbead Alternatives are Trending?"},"content":{"rendered":"

An official ban<\/a> on the manufacture of products containing microbeads is set to take effect on July 1, 2017 in the United States. And with serious attention being paid to getting rid of these tiny plastic spheres in other countries, more and more manufacturers are moving toward biodegradable alternatives like walnut shells<\/a>, bamboo\u00a0powder<\/a>\u00a0and apricot\u00a0shell<\/a>. In fact, these ingredients show a huge increase in formulator interest over the last two years.<\/p>\n

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Prospector Search Trends<\/h2>\n

Apricot shell and walnut shell have been gaining interest with product developers since early 2014, while interest in bamboo powder began to spike just last year.<\/p>\n


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The data above, gathered from thousands of searches by personal care formulators in the Prospector ingredient search engine, indicates a sharp increase in interest in these three natural, biodegradable exfoliants. And while the leader in terms of formulator interest is currently apricot shell, bamboo is the most recent on the scene, jumping from almost no search data in Q2 of 2015 to falling just behind walnut shells in Q1 of 2016.<\/p>\n

What makes these ingredients suitable replacements for polyethylene beads?<\/p>\n