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Chapter 11: The supporting cast · Part 4: Opacifiers and pearlisers

Styrene/acrylates copolymer

  • Made from a hazardous chemical
  • Contaminant risk
Also called
opacifier, styrene acrylic copolymer, polymer latex
Found in
creamy hand wash and dishwashing liquid, laundry liquid

The worst fact: it's built from styrene, which the WHO's cancer agency rates "probably carcinogenic to humans" (2018; monograph published 2019). Trade-name opacifiers list at most 20 to 50 ppm of leftover styrene.

Why brands use it: a milky, opaque look. (In leave-on cosmetics it has been reported at up to 35%.)

Take care if: no specific group.

Comes from: styrene and acrylate monomers polymerised together. Australia classes styrene as "Suspected of damaging the unborn child." That doesn't mean it's in the product, but it's not a great starting point for something you clean with.

Myth check: "Any plastic in a cleaner is now banned in the EU": not yet, apart from plastic microbead scrubbers (banned since October 2023). The EU's microplastics restriction reaches detergents on 17 October 2028, and whether an opacifier is caught depends on whether its particles are solid, don't dissolve and don't break down.

Contaminants: leftover styrene and other monomers. They're unlikely in a well-made product, but it's a factor you can't see on the label.

Fair to say: a US cosmetic safety review (2014) found it safe as used in cosmetics.

Correct as of November 2026. What the badges mean

Sources

  • Safe Work Australia. Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS): classifications for calcium chloride, boric acid, borax, and for N-vinylpyrrolidone, vinyl acetate, ethylene oxide, 1,4-dioxane, hydrazine, aniline, p-toluidine, styrene, chloromethane, carbon monoxide and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4).
  • European Union. Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V; Regulation (EU) 231/2012 (food additive specifications); Regulation (EU) 2022/63 (E171); Regulation (EU) 1297/2014 (detergent capsules); Regulation (EC) 790/2009 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/849 (borates); Regulation (EU) 109/2012; Regulation (EU) 2023/2055 (microplastics); Regulation (EU) 2024/1328 (D4, D5, D6); Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 (cosmetics) Annexes III and IV.
  • Cosmetic Ingredient Review: castor oil and hydrogenated castor oil (2007); styrene/acrylates copolymers (2014); glycol stearate (2023); microbial gums; galactomannans; PEGs (2005).

The full source list is at the end of Chapter 11.