Microplastics are harder to regulate than conventional plastic waste because they come from many sources and are often too small to capture after release.
Governments are increasingly regulating microplastics source by source, starting with intentionally added microbeads in cosmetics and personal-care products.
Newer rules are expanding to unintentional releases from tyres, textiles, paints and plastic pellets lost during production, transport and use.
The emerging global rulebook marks a shift from managing plastic waste after disposal to preventing plastic pollution at the design, production and use stages.
A plastic bag can be banned. A bottle can be collected and recycled.
But microplastics are different. They are often too small to be captured through conventional plastic-waste policies, and their sources are far more diverse. Some are deliberately added to products, while others are generated as plastic products break down or escape during production, transport and use.
This makes microplastics much harder to regulate.
Tiny plastic particles, generally smaller than 5 millimetres, are no longer seen only as a marine pollution problem. They have been detected in water, soil, food and air, as well as in human biological samples, including blood, placenta and breast milk. Their detection in the human body has raised concerns about exposure and potential health effects, although the extent of the associated risks is still being investigated.
Around the world, a regulatory rulebook is beginning to emerge. But rather than addressing microplastics through a single overarching law, governments are increasingly regulating them source by source.
The easiest microplastics to regulate are the ones intentionally added to products.
The United States’ Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 was one of the earliest major examples. It banned rinse-off cosmetics containing intentionally added plastic microbeads, such as face scrubs and some toothpastes.
Other countries followed. Canada prohibited the manufacture and import of toiletries containing plastic microbeads from 2018. The UK banned the manufacture of rinse-off cosmetics and personal-care products containing microbeads in 2018, followed by a ban on their sale. Thailand also prohibited the production, import and sale of rinse-off cosmetics containing plastic microbeads from 2020.
The European Union has gone further. Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2055, adopted under the EU’s chemicals law REACH — Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals — restricts intentionally added synthetic polymer microparticles across products including cosmetics, detergents, cleaning products and certain agricultural uses, with restrictions being introduced in phases.
For certain applications, companies must provide information on the presence and use of these particles and, in some cases, report estimated releases. This helps regulators understand where microplastics are being used and how they may enter the environment.
The focus is also expanding to human exposure. In the US, the Microplastics Safety Act (H.R. 4486) was introduced in 2025. It would require the US Department of Health and Human Services, through the Food and Drug Administration, to study the potential human-health impacts of microplastics in food and water.
But the bigger problem is plastic that becomes microplastic while we use it
A car tyre sheds tiny particles as it moves. Synthetic clothes can release fibres during washing. Paint can wear away and release particles. These are unintentional releases of microplastics, generated as products wear, abrade or shed particles during use.
These sources account for a substantial share of microplastic releases.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated that, among microplastics entering the world’s oceans, synthetic textile laundering accounted for 34.8 per cent and tyre erosion for 28.3 per cent — together making up nearly two-thirds of releases in its central scenario.
The European Union is beginning to address some of these sources. Euro 7, or Regulation (EU) 2024/1257, introduces requirements for non-exhaust vehicle emissions, including brake-particle emissions and tyre abrasion.
France has also addressed textile microfibres. Under its Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy Law, or AGEC Law, enacted in 2020, new domestic and professional washing machines must, from January 1, 2025, be equipped with a microfibre filter or another solution to reduce fibre dispersion.
This marks a shift from regulating plastic only after disposal to addressing what products release during use.
Plastic pollution does not always begin with a finished product.
Before becoming bottles, packaging or other products, plastic often exists as small industrial pellets, sometimes called nurdles. These can escape during manufacturing, storage and transport and enter rivers and oceans.
The EU has now addressed this through Regulation (EU) 2025/2365 on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution. It requires companies and carriers handling pellets to take measures to prevent losses and, where spills occur, contain and clean them up.
The rulebook is expanding from waste to products. This may be the most important change taking place globally. For years, plastic policy has focused on the end of the pipeline: Use → discard → collect → recycle or dispose.
Microplastics are forcing governments to look at the entire pipeline: Design → production → use → emissions → waste → fragmentation.
The EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan has set an objective of reducing microplastic releases by 30 per cent by 2030, reinforcing this broader source-based approach.
This represents a shift from simply managing plastic waste to preventing plastic pollution at its source.
Stopping new releases will not remove the microplastics already present in rivers, oceans, soil and other ecosystems. Larger plastic waste already in the environment will also continue to break down into smaller particles.
This is the problem of legacy microplastic pollution, and it remains one of the least developed areas of regulation. Countries need monitoring systems to identify contamination hotspots and determine where containment or remediation is possible.
The regulations emerging around the world point to an important change. Plastic policy has traditionally focused on what happens after a product is discarded.
Microplastics require governments to look earlier — at what products are made of, how they are designed and what they release while being manufactured and used.
The question is no longer simply, how do we manage plastic waste? It is becoming: how do we stop plastic from becoming pollution in the first place?