How Much Plastic Are You Consuming?

Nothing divides opinion quite like plastic. Plastic is lauded (quite rightly) for being polluting to soils and waterways. It’s been found lurking in the deepest parts of the oceans and on the most remote of beaches.

But plastic is also convenient, cheap, hygienic and lightweight. Compared to glass, it’s cheaper and takes less carbon to transport. When compared to paper, it offers more protection, prolonging the life of certain foods, therefore reducing food waste.

In this Article

Where is All This Plastic Coming From, and Where Does it End Up?
What’s the Impact of Ingesting Microplastics?
Eight Glasses a Day, With Ice and a Slice (of Synthetic Polymer Particles…)
Is bottled water as healthy as we think?
Is Tap Water the Answer?
How Can We Make Water More Alkaline?
How To Reduce Our Reliance on Plastic

However, this also means that it's used to package pretty much everything, including many, many of the things we eat and drink. There’s emerging evidence of its potential harm to animals and humans, so what does this mean for us, in a plastic reliant world? And what can we do to change things?

Where is All This Plastic Coming From, and Where Does it End Up?

The problem of plastic pollution is wide and convoluted. In our own homes, there isn't a room without plastic in it - from the food wrappers in our kitchens to the bottles, tubs and tubes in our bathrooms and synthetic clothes in our wardrobes. (Fabrics often contain plastic microfibers - anything with the word ‘poly’ in it is plastic, so polyester etc.)

Manufacturers and supermarkets also get through thousands of tonnes of plastic each week, transporting and packaging our food, beauty products, cleaning products, clothes, furniture and pretty much everything else.

The real demon is single use plastic, by both consumers and manufacturers, that’s used once and thrown away. (Even recycling plastic has its problems since it can only be recycled a few times, and even then, some soft plastics aren’t widely recycled.)

Plastics that end up in landfill leach their chemical components into the ground, and over time they break down enough to become tiny particles called microplastics. These microplastics (along with larger pieces of plastic, most notably from the fishing industry in the form of discarded nets that then themselves become microplastics) find their way into the worlds’ seas and oceans.

They’re then eaten unwittingly by small fish, who are then eaten by larger fish and sea birds, and they’re now known to be entering the human food chain.

Studies have shown that microplastics are in human stools too, so they’re passing through our digestive systems and returning to the environment.

Alarmingly, every single piece of plastic ever produced, still exists in some form or another. Be that in the car you’ve owned since the 1980s, in the Lycra jeans you’ve owned since the 2000s, recycled into something else, languishing in landfill, floating around in the sea, or in your body…

What’s the Impact of Ingesting Microplastics?

At the moment, the full extent of the potential health issues that could be caused by ingesting microplastics isn’t yet fully understood.

However, there are links to endocrine disruption (messing with our natural hormone levels and cycles), reproductive problems and potentially some cancers.

Despite the current unknowns, the fact alone that synthetic polymers are building up in our bodies is certainly unnerving and worrying. Especially since chemical pollutants, such as those used in perfumes and aftershaves, as well as those used to scent cleaning products and air fresheners in our homes, can bind to the microplastics in our bodies and become lodged in our fatty tissues. This chemical-plastic cocktail is what concerns researchers the most.

Reducing the amount of plastic we buy and use is therefore the key to reducing any risks associated with ingesting microplastics.

Eight Glasses a Day, With Ice and a Slice (of Synthetic Polymer Particles…)

One of the most ubiquitous examples of single use plastic is the water bottle. We know that as part of a healthy lifestyle we need to stay hydrated, and the best way to do this is to drink water - around eight average sized glasses a day (herbal teas also count).

If we’re out and about or travelling, we might not have prepared ourselves with a reusable bottle. So what do we do? Pop into a shop and grab a plastic bottle of water. After all, we’re just looking after our health. Even if we do have some eco guilt, we still need to hydrate.

Is bottled water as healthy as we think?

Studies show that the water sold to us as healthy, from natural springs, filtered through rocks for hundreds of years etc, actually contains microplastics that we’re unwittingly swallowing along with our hydrating water.

One study that sampled more than 250 different bottled waters sold around the world found that 93% of them contained microplastics called synthetic polymer particles. In other words, tiny pieces of man made plastics.

Even more shocking is the fact that some of them weren’t even invisible to the naked eye, they could clearly be seen in the water “without a magnifying glass or microscope”. On average, the study found 325 microplastic particles per litre of bottled water.

The problems get worse if our plastic water bottle is exposed to high temperatures, such as by being in a car on a hot day. Under higher temperatures, more of the chemicals contained within plastic bottles leach into the water.

Is Tap Water the Answer?

It’s thought that tap water is around 500 times cheaper than bottled water. It’s easily accessible too, we just turn on the kitchen tap and it’s there, ready to drink.

However, there could be dangerous chemicals hiding in our ‘clean’ tap water. These include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals. These chemicals are found everywhere from non-stick pans to crease-free, non-iron clothing, fire retardant furniture and stain resistant carpets.

They find their way into the environment and waterways, and end up in our drinking water supplies. In the US, a study linked PFAS to high cholesterol, cancers of the kidneys and testicles, inflammatory bowel disease and thyroid disease.

In addition to this, tap water tends to have a pH of around 7, which places it in the neutral range of acid and alkaline. However, drinking water that has a higher pH, making it more alkaline is thought to improve its quality.

How Can We Make Water More Alkaline?

Alkaline water contains mineral elements and oxides of minerals that give normal tap water the beneficial properties of natural spring water - minus the plastic bottle. This means that alkaline water has a higher antioxidant content that can benefit our physical health.

Using a water filter to filter tap water, such as the Bioceramics Water Activator System, creates alkaline water out of normal tap water. It does this via the use of a filter that contains bioceramics - ground minerals and clays, fired at 1500°C to release powdered rare and precious minerals held together in a cloth filter.

These filters can be used in a sealed glass water jug for around a month to six weeks to produce delicious, clean, alkaline water, free from chlorine and without any plastic involvement. When the filter is spent, it can be used to add nourishment to flower beds and plant pots.

How To Reduce Our Reliance on Plastic

For both ecological reasons (of which there are many but we haven’t gone into detail on here) and our own health reasons, reducing the amount of plastics in our lives is important.

It’s especially important to reduce our reliance on single use plastics, such as those found in plastic water bottles and many, many other food and drink wrappings and containers.

You don’t have to go completely plastic free, unless you want to. Instead, you can reduce the amount of plastic you buy by trying some or all of the following:

• Make use of a reusable water bottle when you're away from home and fill it from the tap, a public water fountain or your alkaline water filter jug.
• Similarly, carry reusable eating utensils with you for when you grab a bite to eat, and a packed lunch box for any leftovers (you can eat them later, and that could reduce your impact further by allowing you to avoid sweets, crisps and chocolates that all contain plastics within their packaging).
• Take reusable shopping bags with you each time you shop - keep them in your car, daily bag, gym bag, buggy or by the front door!
• Opt for supermarkets that sell fresh fruit and vegetables loose, rather than wrapped in a plastic bag.
• Use a butchers and a fishmonger if you have them nearby (and you eat meat and fish), and ask them to wrap your goods in your own packaging.
• Find your nearest refill shop (they’re popping up everywhere) and refill your own containers with dried good such as pasta, rice, cereals, flour and dried herbs and spices.
• Refill shops are also great for refilling your existing bottles of washing up liquid, washing powder, fabric conditioner and surface sprays as well as shampoos, conditioners and shower gels.
• Choose paper wrapped bars of soap over liquid soap in plastic bottles
• Hunt down plastic free brands of your most common household and beauty products.
• Use a bamboo toothbrush and reusable face cloths rather than wipes.
• Choose clothes made from natural fibres such as cotton, hemp and linen.

Let us know your tips on going plastic free!

References

https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/blog/6016/3-everyday-foods-that-contain-microplastics/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/22/microplastics-found-in-human-stools-for-the-first-time
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34611754/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/16/toxic-reaction-how-to-clear-dangerous-pollutants-out-of-your-home
https://time.com/5581326/plastic-particles-in-bottled-water/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6141690/ https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2019/07/exposed-extreme-heat-plastic-bottles-may-ultimately-become
https://firstbusinesswater.co.uk/bottled-water-or-tap-water/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/25/uk-flying-blind-on-levels-of-toxic-chemicals-in-tap-water https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/emerging-chemical-risks-in-europe