What is microplastic?
Microplastic are small particles of plastic (polyethylene (PE), polybutylene succinate (PBS) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC)) between 0.1 and 5000 µm . It’s mainly coming from common plastic debris which degrades into smaller and smaller pieces. In addition, a specific type of microplastic (microbeads) is used in the cosmetic industry and can be found in e.g. cleansers or toothpaste. As the particles a relatively small they cannot be filtered properly and at the end they pass through the water filtration systems, polluting our oceans and lakes. Plastic persists centuries and needs to be removed actively.
Which food contains microplastic?
On average every American ingests and inhales up to 100.000 microplastic particles per year according to an analysis from 2019. A study from 2021 estimates that an average person ingests a credit card’s worth of plastic every week.
Mainly seafood & sea salt contains microplastic as the particles can’t be filtered by the common water filtration systems. If people are polluting fields and land with discarded packaging, microplastic can also been found in soil. Even bottled water isn’t plastic free (plastic bottles)!
What are the consequences for yourself?
On average 1.6 micrograms of plastic polymers had been found in every milliliter of blood at 77 % of the testees during a study. 1.6 micrograms per milliliter equals a teaspoon of plastic in 10 large bathtubs! (https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-discovered-in-human-blood-for-the-first-time-2022-3?r=US&IR=T). Microplastics can cause damage to human cells, cause cell death or an allergic reaction. Increasing levels of toxic chemical consumption and exposure, including toxic chemicals commonly used in plastics, have been linked to reduced sperm counts, and projected to cause infertility to 4 out of 5 men by 2040 (Grantham, J. 2020. Chemical toxicity and the baby bust. GMO).
Primary and secondary microplastics
How to avoid microplastic?
A picture describes more than 1.000 words!
