Plastic in exfoliating scrubs! Grrr. What will they foist on us next?

I'm halfway through a fantastic read called The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman. Using what science can tell us, it imagines what would happen to our world if humans ceased to exist. It also talks about what the world was like before humans existed, and also examines life with humans, and some of the poor choices we make with large scale consequences. If it sounds kind of gloom and doom, it's not. It'd oddly hopeful. I'll probably write more about it once I've finished it. At this point, I'd highly recommend it.

It's the kind of book that has interesting lessons at every turn of the page. And some shockers. Here's one...  Those exfoliating body and facial scrub products that make our skin feel so soft and clean? The majority of the mass produced exfoliating products are not using natural things like ground up pumice stone, apricot pits or loofah bits. Nope. They are using plastic. Can you believe that?! Frankly, I didn't want to believe it. So I went to the store today, and I looked at ten exfoliating scrub products, and yes-sir-ee-bob. They contain plastic. Read the product labels and you will likely find the following ingredients: micro-fine polyethylene granules, polyethylene spheres or beads, or plain old polyethylene. The only ones I found that didn't have plastic were from the St. Ives brand, which did have walnut shells or apricot pits, and several that listed all natural ingredients.

In the chapter titled 'Polymers Are Forever,' scientists who study what washes up on seashores and goes into the gullets of sea creatures are discovering increasing amounts of microscopic bits of plastic from exfoliating products:

'They're selling plastic meant to go right down the drain, into the sewers, into the rivers, right into the ocean. Bite-size pieces of plastic to be swallowed by little sea creatures.'

Why should we care? Lots of reasons, including that the tiniest sea creatures who eat the plastic are eaten by bigger creatures all the way up the food chain. You are probably aware that water treatment plants aren't designed to filter out tiny things like microscopic plastic beads and medicines. I don't know about you. I am not a plastics abolitionist yet. But I'm considering it. Do you think it's possible to live life without plastics?