Each week we ingest an amount of microplastics, about the size of a credit card. Significant traces are found in drinking water, seafood, seasalt, beer and honey. Traces of microplastics have even been found in the dust in our homes.
A truckload of plastic enters our oceans each minute. Plastic doesn't biodegrade, but breaks down into microplastics tiny particles (smaller than 5 mm) that can be eaten by marine life and that is how they finally end up on our plate.
Microplastics are great adhesive carriers for toxins and hormones. Unfortunately, they pass the filters of our water cleaning systems very easily, which is why all these substances end up in our tap water.
The biggest sources of microplastics that flood from our home straight into the water system are: washing of our synthetic clothing, use of cosmetics that contain microbeads like toothpaste and exfoliating scrub, the daily use of plastic items that simply wear off (cans, water bottles, shower curtain).
They have ended up everywhere nowadays: in the most remote places on earth, like the Himalayan or Antarctica. In our oceans, in the body of fish, seabirds and other animals. Microplastics are also present in our drinking water.
