Prohibiting pollution from plastics

Plastic beads – those tiny beads in exfoliating soaps and other personal care products – are not only bad for the health of our lakes, they’re bad for our personal health. Microbeads absorb some of the most harmful pollutants already present in the Great Lakes, such as DDT and PCBs. When fish eat these plastic pellets, and we eat the fish, we’re exposed to higher levels of toxins.

When a bill was proposed to keep microbeads out of the Great Lakes by phasing out their production over the next few years, Wisconsin Conservation Voters immediately encouraged support among decision makers and engaged and activated citizens across the state. Conservation voters sent more than 1,600 letters to legislators asking them to sign on in support of keeping plastics out of the Great Lakes – and the bill passed the Senate and Assembly with strong bipartisan support and was signed into law as Act 43 on July 1, 2015.