The Problem Hidden in Plain Sight: Microplastics
Did you know that an average person eats a credit card's worth of microplastic in a week? This means by the end of one year we have eaten 52 credit cards worth of microplastic. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic that are less than 5 millimeters. They are about the size of a sesame seed. While microplastics may seem harmless, microplastics are actually deadly. Microplastics are probably in your blood, going through your bloodstream and into important organs. The problem is that we can’t just avoid microplastic because it is found everywhere from our food to the air we breathe. Microplastics are just another problem that we humans have created.
Effects of Microplastics
You may want to know what exactly happens to your body when you ingest microplastics. Let me warn you, it is not pretty.
Plastics are made with several different chemicals that ensure durability and prevent it from breaking down completely. These chemicals’ purposes include fillers, plasticizers, antioxidants, UV stabilizers, lubricants, dyes, and flame-retardant. As plastics break down the microplastics, these pieces become carriers of these chemicals. Some of the effects of the toxic chemicals include cancer, mutations to DNA, and toxic reproductive effects.
Microplastics in Our Food & Water
Microplastics can be found everywhere from our produce to our table salt to our fish. On average we eat 126 to 142 microplastics per day. Our microplastic consumption doesn’t stop there as we inhale an additional 132 to 170 pieces of microplastic. Apples have the highest count of microplastics in fruit. They contain an average of 195,500 plastic particles per gram. This is alarming as apples are one of the fruits that are the second most consumed fruits in America. According to a study done by OrbMedia, 94% of water samples in America contain microplastics.
🌱 Microplastics are being found in our produces through the contamination of our water and soil. Microplastics are able to penetrate the roots of plants like lettuce or wheat plants or be absorbed in the roots. They are also contaminating our food as plants are taking in microplastic from contaminated water and soil up to their roots. Another one of the main causes of microplastic contamination in produce and even packaged meats is through single-use plastic. These plastics like bread bags, produce bags, and fruit nets are shedding microplastics onto our produce.
🐟 To add, microplastics are too small to filter in our sewage system, allowing them to get into our ocean and have fish ingest them. The same fish we are eating are ingesting these microplastics. This is often through the food chain. When someone litters a water bottle by the ocean, this breaks down into microplastics. These microplastics are then ingested by plankton or filter feeders. These preys that are filled with microplastics are then later eaten by small fish. These small fish are then prey to larger fish, the fish we often eat. According to a report by The Education University of Hong Kong from 2018, 60 percent of wild flathead grey mullets contain microplastics. Each contains an average of 4.3 plastic fragments. The poor infiltration of microplastics also contaminates our table salt.
💧 Microplastics can be found in our drinking water. In a study done by OrbMedia, 80% of both tap and bottled water samples were found to have microplastics in them. The study also found that the average amount of microplastics in water is around 4 pieces. Some causes of this contaminant being in our water include surface run-off, combined sewer overflows, degraded plastic waste, industrial and wastewater waste, and atmospheric deposition. Atmospheric deposition is a process when that are both natural (precipitation) and unnatural (gases, aerosols, and particles) particles move up to the Earth’s surface. Bottled water is even worse. Experts claim that there is twice the amount of microplastics in bottled water than in tap water. This is due to the material that makes these water bottles. This material is more likely to shed microplastics in the water you’re drinking. While WHO does declare that there is no apparent risk from drinking this water, this is not the only source of microplastic we consume. With the addition of our food and even the air we breathe, that becomes more alarming.
Future
Let’s face it, we can’t escape microplastics, but there are actions we can do to prevent microplastics from entering our bodies. Some of these solutions include:
- Placing a ban on all single-use plastics- Single-use plastic is the main cause of microplastics coming into the environment. This ban can make a great impact on preventing further microplastics from entering the environment.
- Using specialized bacteria to break down plastics- There are special bacterias that actually ingest and break down certain enzymes that are preventing the plastics from breaking down. One example of these special bacterias is Ideonella sakaiensis. It is used to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET), plastic found in water bottles, and fibers of clothing.
Microplastics are a huge problem that while it may seem hidden now, the health repercussions are going to affect us in the future. No action is too small to fight this problem from switching to cotton produce bags to using a reusable water bottle. We need to take action now if we want a microplastic-free future.
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