By Kaajal Bhatti

At the beginning of 2018, the UK Government began legislation banning the use of tiny plastic pieces known as ‘microbeads’, typically found in facial scrubs, due to the pollution and damage to marine life they cause.

Since January 2018 manufacturers of cosmetics and personal care products have not been able to add microbeads to rinse-off toiletries such as face scrubs, toothpastes and shower gels. This ban on the manufacture of products containing microbeads will be followed by a ban on the sale of such products in July. (Source: New Scientist*)

As also discussed in my ‘3 reasons why we’re living healthier in 2018’ blog, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the ingredients they’re using in beauty products. So products that contain natural bio-degradable ingredients such as sugar, coffee grounds and walnut shells are perfect to use to meet these evolving consumer needs.

So with this ban, comes great opportunities for cosmetics and personal care manufacturers, in fact new product development (NPD) in facial scrubs has added +£1.4m in sales in the last year (Source: IRI Infoscan 52 weeks to 27 Jan 2018).

Interestingly no products have been delisted which contained microbeads, instead manufacturers have changed the ingredients whilst keeping the same packaging. But 4 out of 10 of the top performing brands (2018 vs 2017) include a natural ingredient such as; clay, sugar, salt and fruits.

- Clay has contributed 339% to the value growth of facial scrubs
- Sugar has contributed 39%
- Salt has contributed 37%

Within the top losers come some of the biggest brands in facial scrubs which collectively lost -£1.1M vs 2017. Despite the losses, big brands still dominate the facial scrub market but they have had to innovate to keep up. NPD in facial scrubs has helped big brands grow by +£1.4M in 2018 vs 2017. There are however more niche brands emerging into the facial scrub market: 13% of the 30 fastest growing brands are new to market and weren’t selling in 2017.

(Source: IRI Infoscan 52 weeks to 27 Jan 2018)

* - https://www.newscientist.com/article/2158111-ban-on-plastic-microbeads-comes-into-force-in-the-uk/