Microplastics are found everywhere on earth [1]! Yet, the word microplastics remains a mystery for most people. Take a seat and leave it to Fil2r, we are going to give you the 411 on microplastics in less than two minutes.
What are microplastics?
As the name implies it is a small piece of plastic, 5 millimeters or smaller. For reference, a penny is about 20 millimeters in size. A microplastic can be one fourth the size of a penny or smaller. Most microplastics are not visible to the human eye and are small enough to penetrate mesh nets. Micoplastics are formed in two ways: 1) from larger pieces of plastic pollution that is fragmented into smaller pieces and 2) man made microbeads found in body scrubs and other other beauty products are microplastics.
Why are they bad for the environment?
All plastic including microplastics are not biodegradable. This means every piece of plastic you touch will always exist. Microplastics are so abundant they are found in every habitat on earth. The largest amounts of plastic and microplastics are found in the ocean and even in the fish we eat [3]. There are over 50 species of fish that directly consume plastic either because they are filter feeders and microplastics are in the water or intentionally because fish do not know not to eat plastic.
Are microplastics bad for you and me?
The word is still out. Not much is known on how microplastics affect human health. Microplastics can be found in the air, water, and in some of the foods we eat [4]. Plastic is made of toxic materials and one can infer that eating toxic materials is not good for you. More research is needed to determine the effects of microplastics on human health, so stay tuned!
What are we doing about it?
Here at Fil₂R water we do not use microplastics in our products. Traditional water filters use ion resins. Ion resisn is a MICROPLASTIC that never biodegrades. We only use 100% natural coconut shells in our Fil₂R pods! The best part of coconut shells is that they are biodegradable. Much better for the environment than ion resin.
What can you do about it?
The answer is simple reduce, recycle, and refuse plastic! Read some of my other blog posts for plastic reducing tips! Also, try out our Fil₂R pods of activated carbon made from 100% natural coconut shells!
Now that you have the 411 on microplastics. We recommend the following links for further reading on microplastics in the environment:
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[1] Peeken, Ilka, et al. "Arctic sea ice is an important temporal sink and means of transport for microplastic." Nature communications 9.1 (2018): 1505.
[2] Law, Kara Lavender, and Richard C. Thompson. "Microplastics in the seas." Science 345.6193 (2014): 144-145.
[3] Avio, Carlo Giacomo, Stefania Gorbi, and Francesco Regoli. "Experimental development of a new protocol for extraction and characterization of microplastics in fish tissues: first observations in commercial species from Adriatic Sea." Marine environmental research 111 (2015): 18-26.
[4] Mason, Sherri A., Victoria G. Welch, and Joseph Neratko. "Synthetic polymer contamination in bottled water." Frontiers in chemistry 6 (2018).