Although microplastic emissions are still largely unregulated, there are a variety of tools available to help assist businesses, federal facilities and local governments reduce their emissions and move towards regulating microplastic pollution.

For example, Fauna & Flora International developed a Microbeads Guidance Document on improving corporate ingredient policies and/or regulatory measures to effectively prevent sources of microplastic pollution. This states that a corporate commitment to remove microplastic ingredients should include:

• Restriction of all microplastic ingredients
• Application to all ‘down the drain’ products
• No exemption for non-marine-tested synthetic solid ingredients
• No exemption for plastic ingredients below a certain size
• Implementation within an ambitious timeframe
• Application to all brands in a company’s portfolio
• Application to all future formulations of products