Microplastics are everywhere: In coffee cups, in oceans and streams, and even in you.
That’s right. Humans on average ingest an estimated five grams of plastic every week — an amount that’s roughly the weight of a credit card. Numerous studies have found that microplastics can leach from the linings of single-use coffee cups.
The prevalence of microplastics around us has become a major environmental concern, affecting all manner of wildlife. Here’s what you need to know.
What Are Microplastics?
First, let’s establish what microplastics are. This is not the kind of plastic litter you might imagine floating in the ocean — or forming part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Instead, microplastics are extremely tiny particles less than five millimeters in length. (That’s smaller than a single grain of rice.) Unlike organic materials, plastic doesn’t degrade naturally. Instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces: microplastics. These microplastics have been found in the ocean, on mountain tops, and as far away as Antarctica.
One of the main challenges when it comes to mitigating microplastics is the fact that they come from a range of unbelievably diverse sources: regular plastic litter, plastic disposed in landfills that then leaches into the environment through rain and wind, burning plastic, car tires, and even microbeads from cosmetic products.
Microplastics in Pennsylvania Groundwater
This blog would be very long if we were to write about all the places microplastics are found. Instead, we want to focus on Pennsylvania water sources.
Here’s just one example to give you an idea of the prevalence of plastic litter in our water sources: In Philadelphia, the Water Department removes 44 tons of trash from the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers each year, 56 percent of which is plastic waste.
Of course, it doesn’t take a microscope to realize that the rivers around Philadelphia are polluted. But what’s more concerning is a recent study from PennEnvironment, which analyzed microplastics in 50 of Pennsylvania’s most pristine waterways. These are rivers and streams that are among the most ecologically important in the commonwealth — and the cleanest.
Or so we thought.
According to the study, researchers found microplastics in 100 percent of their samples. The primary sources of microplastics were fibers (clothing and textiles), fragments (components of harder plastics), and microfilm (bags and plastic packaging). As the researchers concluded, “While many of the waterways sampled had little to no visual litter at the point of access, our samples found that Pennsylvania’s most pristine waterways continue to be contaminated with plastic pollution.”
Health Impacts of Microplastics
Awareness of microplastics is a relatively new phenomenon, and the reality is that we know relatively little about their impact on human health.
But increasingly, a new body of evidence suggests that these microplastics could have a significant effect on the digestive tract and gut health. One study from the University of New Mexico found that microplastics can even migrate from the gut to other organs, potentially affecting immune cells and causing them to become inflamed. With incidence of gastrointestinal cancers on the rise, especially in young people, some researchers are now hypothesizing that microplastics could have something to do with the concerning trend.
Is Regulation or Remediation Coming?
With all the attention on microplastics, policymakers do seem to be thinking more about ways to reduce microplastics exposure. With that said, there is currently only one piece of federal regulation pertaining to microplastics: the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which prohibits plastic microbeads in rinse-off cosmetic products.
It may be possible to regulate or reduce microplastic usage without passing additional federal legislation. To take one example, the FDA has made it a priority to encourage companies to stop using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are known to be carcinogenic. A similar informal strategy could potentially have an impact on microplastics.
Water remediation could be another tool to improve the cleanliness of our groundwater sources. At BAI, we work with companies to clean and remediate their groundwater as well as stormwater runoff. As more attention gets paid to microplastics and their presence in groundwater and surface waters, we would not be surprised to see eventual regulation on this front.
To learn more about our groundwater remediation efforts and how we’re helping companies do their part to ensure clean waterways in Pennsylvania, get in touch with us today.