New Zealand will ban the sale of cosmetics containing microbeads from July 2018, according to a report published by the New Zealand Herald.

Environment Minister Nick Smith announced the measure, stating that the government had decided to act on microbeads, and not other forms of plastic such as carrier bags, because there was ‘clear evidence of harm to waterways’ and they could not be recycled.

“There is no practical way that a New Zealander can take the microbeads in these products and somehow sieve them out and prevent them from getting into the marine environment,” Smith said at a press conference. “There is not the evidence in New Zealand that a substantive portion of the plastic bags that we use in shopping and other uses end up in the marine environment.”