Plastic: What You Didn’t Know You Were Eating Every Day

Researchers find plastic is common in the water we drink and the air we breath with unknown effects

Drinking water was found to be the largest global source of microplastics. Ivanko80/Shutterstock

You are likely unknowingly eating a credit card’s worth of tiny pieces of plastic every week. A new study for World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conducted by the University of Newcastle, Australia found that people consume about 2,000 pieces of microplastic every week (or five grams), which amounts to about 21 grams a month and just over 250 grams a year. The study is the first global analysis that combines data from over 50 studies on the ingestion of microplastics by people.

Source of Plastics We Eat

The sources of the microplastics that people regularly ingest are common food and beverages. Drinking water is the largest global source of microplastics, a study on bottled water found. All samples that researchers tested contained plastic. The samples came from around the world. Some places have more microplastics. American and Indian tap water had twice as much as European or Indonesian water.

Shellfish accounts for up to 0.5 grams a week. The reason is that shellfish are eaten whole, and their digestive systems may contain the plastic they ingested. The world’s oceans are filled with plastic pollution. There is a plastic gyre in the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas.

Effects of Eating Microplastics

The effects of ingesting microplastic on human health are not fully known, but experts suspect that there is more of an impact than is understood currently. However, studies have found that beyond particular exposure levels of plastic fibers, mild inflammation of the respiratory tract occurs. There are types of plastic that contain chemicals and additives that can affect human health.