Microplastics are microscopic. That’s why you don’t notice the thousands of microplastics that flake off when you open up a bag of chips or a plastic bottle. It sounds disgusting, right? These tiny pieces of plastic range from 0.001 to 5 millimeters in size and are usually formed directly or when large plastic debris break up.
Millions of tons of microplastics are found all over the world, harming marine life by entering their food chain, and although the effects on human health are unclear, they’ve also entered our food chain.
Cheng Fang from Australia’s University of Newcastle said:
Plastic is everywhere and enters our daily lives – and microplastics might be there as well.
He and his team went on a quest to find out whether everyday activities could release microplastic particles. They studied plastic items that are used globally on a regular basis, including bottles, bags, and packaging film by twisting off the bottle cap or cutting the bag with scissors, a knife, or tearing it. These actions deform and fracture the plastic, resulting in bits flaking off.
To collect and measure the microplastics, the team opened up the plastic items over an ultra-sensitive scale that detects weight as low as one nanogram.
The amount of microplastic that fell onto the scale when they opened the items was between 10 to 30 nanograms, which amounts to 14,000 to 75,000 individual microplastic particles. However, the team believes that the actual number released is most-likely higher since some microplastics remain in the air because they are statically charged.
When the team looked at the microplastics through a microscope, they discovered that most bits resembled fragments or fibers of varying sizes and shapes. Though, some were large enough to be seen without a microscope, such as those from cutting bottles with scissors.
The researchers also used a method called spectroscopy to work out the microplastic’s chemical composition and found that the majority were made of polyethylene. “This finding sends an important warning. We might need to take our own responsibility and work with industry together to reduce microplastics,” Fang advised.
Christian Dunn from Bangor University in the UK, expressed:
You’d love to say that you’re surprised and shocked at the results, but unfortunately, you’re not. We’re now realizing that microplastics are literally everywhere. It is now crucial that we work to find out the possible health effects of microplastics and cut back on unnecessary plastic use.
The team published the study on March 19, 2020, in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
