Highly touted by beauty companies as the best way to exfoliate, microbeads are actually a bane to the environment. Microbeads are very small pieces of plastic put in products such as facial scrubs and makeup, and when they are washed down the drain, they end up in the oceans only to be eaten by fish. It can do major harm to fish populations, which is why the U.K will ban the sale of personal beauty products that use microbeads by the end of 2017. Environmental groups like Greenpeace welcomed the ban, but want it to be extended to other products like detergents and toothpaste.  A ban on all products containing microbeads has already been passed in the U.S, and will come into effect mid-next year.