Bottled water contains 100 times more plastic than previously detected

A one-litre bottle of water contains 240,000 tiny plastic fragments on average – many times more than previously thought – according to a new study. Researchers at Columbia and Rutgers universities used a new microscopy technique to look for nanoplastics in bottled water for the first time, which are particles less than one micron in size (a human hair is about 83 microns wide). The peer-reviewed study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that there were about 10 to 100 times more nanoplastics than the slightly bigger microplastics previously found in bottled water, after analysing 25 bottles from three common brands (naming no names, but apparently bought at a Walmart). Nanoplastics could pose a bigger risk to human health because they are small enough to enter human cells, but scientists don’t know how dangerous they are. Still, all four co-authors interviewed by the AP said they had cut back on their bottled water use after conducting the study. One suggestion? Switch to a reusable bottle.