What's the Deal with Microplastics?

 

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

You all know I have been on a tear to reduce the amount of plastic in my house. I can't say hubby has been a huge help in that regard, but we persist.

Why? Well, first, look at the picture to the left. Do you really want to live in a town that looks like this? No, not all of the litter is plastic, but most of it is. I participate in a lot of little pickups in a year, and plastics are usually the largest part of what we pick up. Most of the trash people who drive by toss out their window around my house is also plastic.

Next, plastics can leech bad things into our food. I am not talking about that today, but it is the big reason I am trying to root it out of my kitchen.

But the third reason is microplastics. Most of the studies about microplastics have had to do with marine life, but the impacts undoubtedly apply to freshwater as well. Here's a little bit about microplastics. Microplastics are the tiny bits of plastic between 1 mm and 5 mm in size. Most are due to the break up of larger pieces of plastic. The number one component of microplastics is #1 water bottles. Nanoplastics are bits of less than 1mm in size. Many of these small bits of plastic can look a lot like the food that fish that other aquatic animals eat, and so they ingest quite a few. Needless to say, this is not very nutritious, although studies are underway to determine the extent of harm microplastics cause other organisms as well as us.

It is estimated we ingest between 8,000 - 11,000 bits of microplastic each year. Your table salt likely has microplastics in it. In tests, 36 of the 39 salt brands tested contained microplastics. In addition to the obvious plastics, many synthetic materials contain plastics as well, leaving microfibers in the environment.  (On a side note, I was surprised to find an issue with even microfibers from denim!) These microplastics are found in drinking water and in the form of microfibers in the air. I did look at our city Water Quality report for 2020 and microplastics are not mentioned, probably because it isn't something the city is required to report on. 

In 2015, the U.S. banned microbeads, which were often present in personal care products. This was primarily due to concerns with their presence in our water supply.

Microplastics seem as if they are a huge problem and one of those overwhelming issues that we might wonder, what possible impact could we as individuals have? You're right, but at the same time, you are not. Each of us contributes to the problem of plastic pollution, whether we're talking about the litter in our community or the microplastics in our waterways and water supply.

So what can individuals do?

 - Cut the plastic. It is hard to avoid plastics, I know. But seriously try to reduce the amount of plastic that enters your home. One thing you can absolutely do without is plastic drink bottles. Our drinking water is very safe. I know some people feel as if the water has a funny taste, but compared to a lot of places I have been, our water is good. However, if you really can't stand it, invest in a filter and use a refillable water bottle. 

- Use cloth shopping bags (and please keep them clean). In addition, invest in reusable produce bags.

- Get rid of the plastic utensils and straws. When in restaurants, ask them not to give you a straw. I wish the city would consider a ban on plastic shopping bags, but I can just hear the public outcry over that, can't you? But you would be surprised how many of these bags we fish out of our local lakes during a cleanup.

- Get something like "To-Go Ware" to carry out your leftovers from restaurants and encourage your favorite restaurants to get away from styrofoam containers for take-out. It's cheap for them but costly for our environment.

- If you do get plastic, can you reuse it? I do reuse bread bags for my own homemade bread and store bags for trash. I would still prefer not to have the plastic to start with, but if it is in the house, it gets at least one more use.

 - Again, if you get plastic, dispose of it properly. Recycling options are not good right now, so be sure any plastic you bring home is put in the trash bin, not thrown on the ground.