Microplastics in the Environment

Once again, Waste Reduction Week is upon us! And microplastics have probably been on (inside?) your mind.

Microplastics are defined as pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm. Microplastics much smaller than this, however, are being found in, well, everything. Imagine dividing the edge of a dime into 1000 slices – that is a micrometer. Invisible to the eye, these microplastics are being found in plants, in animals, in the soil, in the water, in the air and in us. In our own bodies, microplastics are being found in our reproductive systems, our blood, within individual cells, in our brains – everywhere researchers look. The truth is scientists are only beginning to discover the extent of this pollution and the resulting ecological and health impacts. If you think this is bad news, you are right.

Microplastics in our bodies can impact our health in three basic ways: simply having a piece of plastic in your blood or in your brain may cause health problems. The second concern are the additives in plastics that are known to leach out – pigments, plastizers, stabilizers, fire retardants: ‘forever chemicals’ associated with a wide array of potential health impacts. And the third source of concern is the fact that plastics attract other chemicals in the environment – herbicides, pesticides and many other synthetic chemicals – which are brought into the body with the plastic, like a Trojan horse bearing toxic gifts.

Plastics generally do not disappear once they are in the environment. They just break down and become harder to clean up as they degrade into smaller and smaller bits. And this is the conundrum as we continue to produce (and dispose of) 400 million metric tonnes of plastic each year. Like all pollution it is much easier and cost-effective to prevent its release to the environment than to try to clean it up later. One could look to selenium from coal mining or greenhouse gas emissions as other examples of this. And though these are considered ‘wicked’ problems, doing something better is always better than doing nothing at all. So, what can you do?

Plastics are an important engineering material – strong, lightweight, chemical resistant, tough. They are useful in durable goods, but maybe not so necessary as disposable goods. One of the easiest ways to reduce the amount of microplastics in the environment is to stop using single-use items like plastic bags, cutlery, straws, etc. You might think this is inconsequential, but about a third of plastic production (140 million metric tonnes) is directed to single-use products. That’s almost 35 lbs for each person on the planet each year! Only 1% of single-use plastics comes from recycling.

In addition plastic waste blowing around and breaking down, a major source of microplastics from the home is from laundry. Synthetic fibres from our clothing break down and are washed away with the wastewater (eventually re-entering the environment as waste sludge or effluent water after treatment) or they are blown outside with the dryer air. What you can do is choose clothing with natural fibres when you are able to; use full washer loads with minimum laundry soap and set on gentle; and hang your clothes to dry. Millions of microfibers are released in each load of laundry – these simple practices may reduce microplastics from your laundry by 70%.

Beginning this Waste Reduction Week, say ‘no’ to single-use plastics; pick up trash while out on a walk; and try being mindful of your laundering – try hanging some clothes to dry. We will all benefit.