Polyethylene: What It Is and Why It's Used

Origin

Polyethylene is the world's most produced plastic, first polymerised by Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett at ICI in the UK in 1933 under high-pressure conditions. Its cosmetic application as microbeads in exfoliating products was a secondary use that developed from the 1990s onward, as manufacturers sought inexpensive, consistent alternatives to natural abrasives. Its environmental persistence in aquatic systems eventually led to regulatory bans on its use as a wash-off cosmetic abrasive in the EU, UK, US, Canada, and several other jurisdictions.

Why It's Used

In body scrubs and exfoliants, polyethylene microbeads functioned as a physical abrasive — removing dead skin cells by mechanical friction. Their small size and spherical shape gave them a smooth, controlled abrasive action. Their environmental impact arose from the same properties: they are too small to be removed by standard wastewater treatment and accumulate in aquatic systems.

Elsewhere

Polyethylene is the most widely used plastic globally, used in packaging films, bottles, pipes, synthetic fibres, and as insulation for electrical cables. In cosmetics, its use as a microbead abrasive is now prohibited in wash-off products in the EU and numerous other markets.

What the Framework Sees

Question 1, and a genuinely different kind of lesson than any other material in this series.

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