Microplastics 101: What Can You Do? (Part 2)

Microplastics might be less than one centimeter in length, but they’re causing as many problems as larger pieces of plastic. Don’t know how?

In our previous blog post, Microplastics 101: How Bad is The Problem? (Part 1), we explained how these tiny plastics affect the environment and our bodies. Now, we’re going to give you 5 simple tips to combat microplastics at home.

So, let’s get to it!

5 Easy Ways to Combat Microplastics at Home

Enough plastics are degrading into tiny fragments in the environment, we can no longer keep polluting our planet with more plastics. Fortunately, here are some easy ways to avoid microplastics at home:

1.      Avoid Drinking From Disposable Plastic Bottles

A simple way to reduce your daily intake of microplastics is to avoid bottled water. If you rely on bottled water, you might be ingesting roughly 90,000 more microplastic particles per year than those who opt for tap water!

2.      Prefer Natural Fabrics

Did you know that one load of laundry can release an average of 700,000 microplastic fibers? To reduce this number, avoid synthetic fibers and prefer textiles made of natural materials, like organic cotton, hemp, wool, and others.

3.      Dump Personal Care Products With Microbeads

Many personal care products (especially toothpastes and facial/body scrubs) contain tiny plastic microbeads. Every time you use such products, you’re washing tons of plastic microbeads down the drain.

A better idea would be to choose products that replace microbeads with natural ingredients, like jojoba seeds.

4.      Stop Microwaving Foods in Plastic Containers

When plastic containers are exposed to high temperatures, they shed lots of microplastics into foods and beverages. Also, they could leach BPA and other toxic chemicals when heated.  For that reason, remember to transfer your food to a ceramic or glass container before using the microwave.

5.      Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

To fight plastic pollution, you could replace single-use plastics with reusable products, reuse your plastic items as much as possible, and recycle them when you no longer need them. This way, you will prevent tons of disposable plastics from becoming microplastics!

And last but not least, don’t forget to spread the word about microplastics!

Since these tiny plastics can pass through filtration systems, we need to prevent them from entering the environment in the first place.