What to do with microplastics

A team from Guangzhou Medical University and Jinan University in China tested both soft and hard tap water, which are richer in minerals. “Nano/microplastics (NMPs) in tap water flowing from central water purification systems are of increasing concern worldwide as they pose a potential risk to human health through water consumption,” the authors of the article say. They published the results of their study in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, a scientific journal for leading researchers from around the world, Channel 24 wrote.

• As part of the experiments, scientists added nanoplastics and microplastics to the liquid before boiling it and then filtering out the precipitate. In some cases, up to 90 percent of NMP was removed by boiling and filtering, but efficiency varied depending on the type of water.

Of course, the biggest advantage is that most people can do this using tools they already have in the kitchen.

This simple water boiling strategy can “purify” domestic tap water of NMPs and has the potential to harmlessly reduce the entry of NMPs into the human body through water consumption.
– write biomedical engineer Zimin Yu of Guangzhou Medical University and colleagues.

A higher concentration of NMP was extracted from hard tap water samples, which naturally form limescale (or calcium carbonate) when heated. Commonly seen in kitchen kettles, this chalky substance forms on the surface when temperature changes cause calcium carbonate to be forced out of solution, trapping plastic pieces behind it like a crust. Thus, as the hardness of the water increases, its ability to filter microplastics when heated also increases.

Then, when you pour water into the glass, the plastic remains inside that shell. If it comes off the surface in a stream of liquid, it can be easily filtered through an ordinary sieve similar to that used for tea.

In soft water, where less calcium carbonate was dissolved, only a quarter of the NMF was captured from the water.

Scientists conclude that drinking boiled water “appears to be a viable long-term strategy to reduce global NMP exposure”but add that this is a “local custom” valid only in some regions. The truth is that in some countries you can drink tap water because it is very clean.

How is it implemented in Ukrainian realities?

For Ukraine, this is only partially true. We either drink water raw from special columns or boil tap water. However, if there are no questions about the second, questions arise about the first.

Considering that microplastics can be so small that they can only be seen under a microscope, it makes sense to boil even the water you bottle from the column. The truth is that the source of microplastics is the multitude of things that surround us, including clothes and the bottles we collect water from. If your water is in a plastic bottle, you can be sure that it contains microscopic plastic particles.

If you live in a country where you can drink tap water, it makes sense to start boiling the water because plastic has already been linked to changes in the gut microbiome and resistance to antibiotics.