Spyke

How avoid microplasics?

I am busy and don't have time to research all of the ways corporations have poisoned us.

What are some good rules on how to avoid microplastics?

Eat local foods? Avoid processed foods? Walk/bike? Use dry soaps? Don't use any take away containers? Avoid walking near busy roads? Use cotton/wool for all clothing?

View original on infosec.pub

It's too late to avoid them. Microplastics are being found literally everywhere on the planet.

65
lemmy.world

The micro plastics are in the soil. If you live urban or suburban, your soil is likely more contaminated with micro plastics than food grown on a rural farm.

26
lemmy.dbzer0.com

There’s next to none in all water, when measured by volume.

But things concentrate, so the 0.00005% adds up over time.

4

A quick google finds me an article going into the measurements taken with the tap water here: it's so little it's in the range of a measuring error for none at all.

I'd have to pour 350 cups of water to find even one particle, if I'm unlucky

1

This is a “parts per million billion” sort of thing.

Think of it like PFAS or some other harmful chemical (which, you know, it basically is): the layperson would be categorically unable to get a meaningful measurement from a glass of water, but it can still fuck you (and everyone else) up real bad in the long run.

2

The only particles found were really small: 50 microns

going with that, 350 glasses, 250ml per glass, 1e+12 cubic microns per cm3

So 1 particle in 3502501e+12/50 cubic microns of water

according to my calculator that would be about 5.7×10^-10ppm

aka, next to none

yes I did the math using the simple example I found on the doc :0

1
lemmy.world

The plastic particles are small enough to enter the cells of your body. No filter can let dirt through and block micro plastics.

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Boomkop3reply
reddthat.com

Maybe stop thinking in absolutes and see if blocking 99% makes a difference? You gotta be smarter than to think in black and white

1
lemmy.world

I don't think you understand how small the particles are. You can't filter micro plastics out of soil because the micro plastics are the same size as the soil particles. Take a bucket of sand and dye half red. How are you going to filter it?

There are methods to destroy micro plastics like raising the temp. But that will kill the bacteria in the soil making it sterile.

3
Boomkop3reply
reddthat.com

They're there in varying sizes. We're not looking for perfection. We're looking for 'good enough'. And if the place you live is so polluted that you can't even grab some dirt out of your yard without poisoning your plants... I think you have to get out of there

1

I don't think you understand the physics of the problem. Have you played connect 4, the game with the checkers that you drop down a slot?

Imagine the black checkers are dirt particles and the red checkers are microplastic. The game set with the slots is the filter the particles drop through. Play a game and then open the slider at the bottom to dump the checkers. Do the red checkers stay in the game set while only the black fall out? Of course not, because they are the same size.

There is no possibile way to filter the plastic because it is the same size as the dirt in all its different sizes. There are large and small dirt particles. There are large and small micro plastics. If you remove 1% of the microplastic you remove 1% of the dirt, so the remaining dirt is just as contaminated. You didn't filter it, you only removed an equal amount of dirt and plastic.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016121003095

3
sh.itjust.works

Why don’t you tell me how you think you’re gonna clean literally microscopic plastic fragments out of said dirt?

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Boomkop3reply
reddthat.com

I think I'll call around to find some that have dirt with little plastic. I said optional for a reason

0

Let me put it another way:

Microplastics are so small that they are found in rainwater - as in, they’re found in water collected from precipitation in a pristine vessel. They’re literally everywhere, in every part of our ecosystem and food chain at this point. There is unfortunately no escaping them.

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Boomkop3reply
reddthat.com

How does that stop me from shopping around to find clean dirt?

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metaStaticreply
kbin.earth

Can't wait for the Water World future, these bags of dirt are gonna be worth a fortune.

2
spacesatanreply
leminal.space

I've found bits of plastic trash in almost all of the potting soil I've bought. I'm at the point where I think a heavily filtered hydroponic setup is one of the only ways to really minimize microplastics.

1

Hydroponics are done with plastic components. I've never heard of hydroponics done with glass.

2

you don't. you can try to mitigate it by using less plastic yourself, buying local foods, whatever, but it won't make much of an impact.

the less bad news is that plastic, by its own properties, is chemically relatively inert, so they're really not that harmful. they're still bad, mind you, just not all that hyped up to be.

19

They’re in he air, the water, the food, your brain, apparently. Your reproductive fluids…there’s literally no escape. We signed this pact with satan when capitalism determined that profit is the only thing that matters.

The first step we could take? Bringing the exploitative and murderous system of capitalism to its knees. So we can promptly shoot it in the back of the head. Then, maaaybe our children’s children’s children would have an option to avoid microplastics.

16
lemmy.world

You can't outright, but you can at least try to minimize your exposure. Easiest way is to avoid buying products that use plastic packaging, especially if the product that you're planning to buy is food. Don't microwave plastics, even the supposedly "food safe" one - that releases a ton of microplastics into your food. Don't order takeout - again, lots of plastic in the containers. Even paper food containers contain a plastic coating.

Don't touch receipts, especially with wet hands. Or at minimum, wash your hands thoroughly after touching it

15

The receipt thing, is about the general carcinogenic properties of the thermal paper, and if anyone is a cashier that handles them regularly, wear gloves.

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venusaurreply
lemmy.world

Where are you supposed to get tires not made of rubber?

11
Habahnowreply
sh.itjust.works

Drive less would best the recommendation. Though I feel this doesn't directly help yourself so much as everyone.

9
kitnahtreply
lemmy.world

They do still contain a good portion of rubber; the natural type farmed from trees.

2
MacroCycloreply
lemmy.ca

I had a similar thought, but when I looked into it, the difference between natural and oil based rubber is not significant. Natural rubber would be just as bad.

2

It's a polymer just like synthetic rubber. It isn't like other natural products. Wood can rot because it's made of cellulose, but rubber can't. Nothing eats it.

2
lemmy.world

Trains use steel wheels (unless the government is in the pocket of Big Rubber, like the Michelin trains in Paris)

3

That would work great on cars too, all we need is all the roads to be as smooth and even as steel rails.

3
lemmy.ml

Short answer: very simple

Avoid plastic

You buy bottled water?

That has Microplastics.

You buy or store food in plastic?

Microplastics..

Use plastic straws?

Welp, Microplastics

Etc...

Basically it's difficult to avoid it since we use plastic almost everywhere daily, but not impossible.

10
Azzureply
lemm.ee

Microplastics have also been found in our drinking water. So maybe stop drinking water altogether.

22
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I can confirm that if you stop drinking water, in 72 hours or so you won't have to worry about microplastics.

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kitnahtreply
lemmy.world

I've heard that anyone who's drank water has died anyways.

6
klepreply
lemmy.ml

Isn't it dihydrogen monoxide?

3
lemmy.world

All the plastic objects you listed are the long term cause of micro plastics. You don't get micro plastics from the plastic wrap on food or plastic straws. Micro plastics come from the straws thrown away that slowly break down into micro plastics over decades.

So avoid plastic to help the environment, but that won't change your micro plastics injested right now. It's in the food itself.

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Carroladereply
lemmy.world

This.

Avoiding plastic in your day to day might prevent leeching, which is nice, but you'll still encounter it in the natural environment.

The problem is the plastics never really chemically break down. They do undergo mechanical weathering though, so it all breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces over time. Eventually these particles are microscopic, and make their way into everywhere and everything it seems, from soil to rainwater to your breakfast cereal and your testicles.

You can probably filter it out of your water, I imagine reverse osmosis is likely effective since plastic molecules are somewhat chonky. A HEPA filter should get at least the larger particles out of the air. I don't know how effective it'd be with smaller particles, sometimes called nanoplastics. Avoiding synthetic fabrics probably would help somewhat, but I haven't read anything about this.

You can't get it out of your food though, we don't know enough yet about reliable ways we could keep plants from taking it up through their root systems. From plants it gets into the food chain, and much like mercury with fish, it'll likely end up concentrating in animals, like us. You could potentially grow your own food via aquaponics using filtered water and maybe keep it plastic-free, but this is a real reach here. And you're basically vegan now and have to literally grow all your own food.

Note, I'm largely speculating regarding methods.

Some reading material, this first one is about plant uptake:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618759/

Water filtration:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10054062/

7
lemmy.world

It's reddit all over again. The top voted post is wrong. You post correct info with sources and you are buried at the bottom.

1

I did get to the thread a little late, the top comments were already in place. I also did make the choice to drop my reply in support of someone that was saying something valuable that wasn't getting much attention, instead of my own op reply.

It's Lemmy though, I have a feeling most of us read everything just due to how little there is to read. But yeah, we do share the natural first-commenter advantage thing that reddit has, it's a weakness of the overall format. AskHistorians created their highly successful sub mainly due to how much this irritated them. lol

2

Move to a different planet? I think this cat is out of the bag, they are everywhere now, it's the lead of the current generation.

The steps you listed seem like reasonable action anyway, but there simply isn't anything you can do to avoid them here.

10
Rolandoreply
lemmy.world

you should be dead and that is the only true way to be free of microplastics.

The microplastics will seep into your corpse.

7

I read an article not that long ago that stated that they're in men's testicles and women's ovaries. In other words, they have become a part of your physical body and will become a part of the bodies of the next generation (likely several generations). They're unavoidable.

9
lemmy.ml

You can't completely avoid them, but avoiding plastic food/drink containers is an easy thing to do. Good for the environment too, not just your health.

9

Some people here say space, but anything that takes you to space contains microplastics, in fact you yourself contain microplastic. The only way to avoid microplastics is simply to not exist at all. And I don't mean dying, when you die you still have microplastics in your body.

8

https://www.aamc.org/news/microplastics-are-inside-us-all-what-does-mean-our-health

My take-aways from this article:
There's no good study on microplastics in humans.
They've tested "pristine" plastic on mice and it's pretty bad.
The plastics we're exposed to are loaded with chemicals and toxins.

She carries a stainless-steel water bottle and avoids plastic water bottles. She doesn’t microwave food in plastic containers and only uses glass, wood, or metal kitchen items, including mixing bowls, spoons, cutting boards, and food storage containers.

takes her shoes off to avoid tracking in dust from the outside and uses a HEPA filter to capture particles from the air.

Great point. Tires are one of the leading products polluting our environment and lungs.

This article also links to The Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at UCSF which offers a guide for minimizing exposure to bad stuff. https://prhe.ucsf.edu/toxic-matters

Here's a relevant NYT Article - How to Minimize Your Exposure to Microplastics

8
kbin.earth

"Plastic came out of the Earth; the Earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the Earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place: it wanted plastic for itself, didn’t know how to make it, needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question: “Why are we here?” Plastic, assholes!"

George Carlin.

8

The two most common sources of microplastics that enter your body are from the vessels you eat/drink from, and from particles in the air from things like clothes, carpets, furniture, linens.

How to avoid? Use stainless steel, aluminum, copper, (or other metals), ceramic, or glass storage vessels for things like water (including your Brita) for warming things in the microwave, or for storing food, and reduce buying things in plastic if you plan on keeping them there for awhile (eg glass ketchup bottle). Replace any plastic water pipes in your wall with good ol copper. My main water vessels are all stainless steel.

For particulate, consider air filtration, buy clothes/furniture/carpets made from natural animal/ sources like cotton, wool, bamboo, avoiding plastics like polyester. That includes your scrubbing utensil for dishes. Your carpets are probably made with some sort of plastic, so if it's too much to do hardwood, or replace with a natural fibre, the Dyson vacuums are good at getting out loose microplastics.

Be warned, one time I almost bought a stainless steel cup from a reputable retailer, and upon further investigation it was just plastic with a steel coating.. Yep, made in Communist China..

7
lemmy.world

Avoid anything that comes in plastic packaging and distill your own water. You will still need to drink normal water but I can't imagine any municipality is currently equipped to deal with microplastic so reducing your intake is probably a good idea.

Short of moving somewhere very rural and growing all your own food, it is close to impossible.

5
lemm.ee

As a resident in a pretty rural area you might want to avoid moving to rural areas due to increased cancer rates due to pesticide use and poor water conditions. But don't you worry about our poor corporations that are wrecking shit, our lovely governer passed legislation that prevents people from suing them. though her and the corporations assure us there is nothing to worry about. They pinky sweared and everything.

9

Use only textiles made of cotton, wool or linen (I recommend linen in summer and wool in winter, since cotton isn't very good at conserving your body heat), look for a bamboo toothbrush, avoid foods in plastic packaging (this can sadly be difficult) and only put them in ceramic, metal or glass containers.

I assume your goal is to minimise the amount of microplastics inside your body, so the materials that touch your food are a priority. The amount of microplastics in your food or drink also depends on how long they are in contact with plastic. For example, if you have juice in a plastic bottle, drinking it right away or putting it in a plasticless container would probably result in less microplastics than storing it in the said bottle.

If you are more concerned about nature, try shopping at second-hand stores.

4
orenishiireply
feddit.nl

Do you have a source for this? Can hardly imagine putting leftovers in a tupperware style container will get microplastics in the food. Unless your scraping it like a wildman with utensils.

3
orenishiireply
feddit.nl

Thats a nice article thanks. But it does not answer my question.

Sure heating stuff in plastic doesn’t sounds good but storing in plastic.. I can hardly imagine the plastic to just dissolve into to the food. Especially if the food is solid.

Still interested if somebody has a solid source for this.

1

Here's another article that has more sources

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-do-we-know-about-microplastics-in-food#The-dangers-of-microplastics

It's important to keep in mind that nothing is really 'static,' the molecules consisting of the plastic and food are still vibrating and decaying into its local environment due to entropy, everything is to some extent. While strong and resilient, plastic molecules will still 'leech' out. The concern is more to what extent. High temperatures and liquids would be the highest risk factor, while low temperatures and solids would be much lower.

I think storing solids in plastic at room or cold temperatures are fine. But I avoid microwaving or storing hot items in plastic and opt for glass or ceramic instead. Our entire bodies are already compromised with micro plastics so for me it's just about minimizing exposure when I can

2

Become a communist and start advocating for workers to run the economy because we wouldn't fuck ourselves over like capitalists will.

2

Don’t cook with Teflon or otherwise coated pans. Stainless steel, carbon steel or cast iron (can be enameled).

0