Life in plastic? Not so fantastic, says science

A typical 33-ounce bottle of water – or one liter for the Europeans reading this – contains an average of 240,000 plastic fragments, or ~100x more than previously thought, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in PNAS.

The research from Columbia University marks the first-ever study to evaluate bottled water for the presence of “nanoplastics” – which are plastic particles under 1 micrometer in length, or 70x smaller than the width of a human hair.

• Nanoplastics are widely considered more dangerous to humans than microplastics (slightly larger plastic particles), since they’re small enough to penetrate human cells, enter the bloodstream, and impact organs.

The findings: To accomplish their novel study, Columbia researchers invented a new laser-based microscopy technology that was able to count the number of nanoparticles found in three popular brands of water sold in the US. They discovered between 110,000 and 370,000 tiny plastic particles in each liter 33-ounce bottle, with nanoplastics representing ~90% of that total.

🥤 Zoom out: The world produces more than 450 million tons of plastics each year, much of which eventually ends up in landfills next to your toxic ex-boyfriend. The vast majority of plastic doesn’t degrade naturally, but instead breaks down into smaller pieces over time and spreads across the Earth.