At the end of a year focused on the environment safety, Mr. Barack Obama, President of the USA,  signed a bill that bans the plastic microbeads, which are included in many personal cleansing products and cosmetics, because recognized as environmentally harmful ingredients. It is indeed a rising issue in USA: very important quantities of these ingredients have been detected in waters and several States in the last few years have been focusing their attention on such a sensitive problem. Many companies involved in the business have been working on alternatives, as reported last year in HPC Today and new substitutes are already available on the market:
https://www.teknoscienze.com/articles/hpc-today-cellulose-acetate-technology-to-replace-banned-pe-beads.aspx

The text of the Act:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr1321/text