A 2019 study found that the plastic ingested every week by the average person is roughly equal to that of a credit card. Often this is in the form of tiny plastic, invisible to the naked eye, called micro-plastics.
So, how can we avoid them?
8 easy tips for avoiding micro-plastics:
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Hand wash your clothes, pet beds and toys or wash them on a low heat setting and hang to dry. Don't wash on a delicate cycle, a recent study has shown this actually releases more microplastics than a regular cycle.
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Buy clothes, pet toys, beds and collars/harnesses made from natural fabrics, such as cotton, hemp, linen, silk or wool instead of synthetic materials.
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Stop buying bottled water (or any bottled drink for that matter)! Bottled water has twice as much micro-plastic as tap water. You can also buy filters for your tap water which filter out any micro-plastics.
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Use public transport - car tyres are a major source of micro-plastic pollution.
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Don't microwave food in plastic, including those microwave meals. Remove food into a ceramic or glass container before microwaving.
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Avoid seafood - plastic accumulates in the ocean and then in the fish we eat.
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Avoid teabags and use loose leaf tea or reusable/refillable linen tea bags instead. One recent study found that, when a plastic tea bag was brewed, 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics were released into the drink.
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Vote for policies and politicians that seek to tackle plastic pollution.
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