Orb media: over 80% of the world's tap water contains plastic particles that affect billions of people's drinking water

Recently, a piece of news set off an environmental protection topic plastic pollution According to the report, an international survey commissioned by orb media, a non-profit organization, has found that plastic particles have been found in tap water around the world This is the first study on plastic particles in tap water Now people mainly focus on the atmosphere, natural water, natural environment, animal body and so on, but ignore the most direct source of human intake - such as tap water, drinks, food and so on "Plastic hidden in our bodies" is a survey of tap water samples from developed and developing countries conducted by scientists from the University of Minnesota and the State University of New York They work with orb media, a non-profit media company Of 159 samples from all over the world, 83% were found to contain plastic particles Most of these particles are fibers (99.7%) with a length between 0.1-5mm The content is 0 to 57 particles / L, and the overall average value is 4.34 n / L The content of plastics from North America is the highest, while that from seven European countries is the lowest The tap water sample is collected locally by the partner with 500ml HDPE (high density polyethylene, a kind of high crystallinity, non-polar thermoplastic) bottle Before collecting the final sample, the HDPE bottle will be washed twice with flowing tap water A questionnaire will be filled out for each sample and sent to orb media, while the sample itself will be sent to the University of Minnesota for processing This arrangement only allows the identification of water samples by a unique sample ID number, so that "blind" treatment does not create any preconceptions about the source of water before testing Because in the surrounding environment, such as air and water are polluted by plastic particles, in order to make the experimental results accurate and reliable, the inspectors have adopted a series of very strict standards to deal with the collected water samples In the first three months of 2017, 159 tap water samples were collected from eight different regions in the world: Kampala, Uganda (n = 26), New Delhi, India (n = 17), Jakarta, Indonesia (n = 21), Beirut, Lebanon (n = 16), the United States (n = 36), Cuba (n = 1) Quito, Ecuador (n = 24), Europe (n = 18) In view of the change of sample volume, the density of plastic particle pollutant is calculated as the number of particles per liter of water (n / L), so as to standardize the sample The range of plastic particles in all tap water samples is 0 to 57, with an overall average of 4.34 plastic particles per litre of water Of the 30 deionized water blanks used during the experiment, 5 (17%) contained one plastic particle The remaining 83% of plastic particles are zero When comparing the plastic pollution in tap water by region, the percentage detection rate of plastic in the United States and Lebanon was 94%, while in Europe, 18 samples were taken from seven countries, with the lowest detection rate of 72% Source of the proportion of plastic particles in samples from different countries: according to the data provided by the National Academy of medicine of the United States, orb media consumes 3 liters of drinks per day for men and 2.2 liters for women If these drinks are tap water or a drink made from tap water (such as coffee, tea or reconstituted juice), up to 14 plastic particles may be ingested per day, while women may ingest up to 10 plastic particles These daily doses total more than 4000 plastic particles per year for men and more than 3000 for women In addition to running water, plastic particles that enter the body may come from other sources, such as sea salt, beer and seafood This is the world's first investigation report on plastic contaminated tap water, so the results of this study can be said to have a preliminary glimpse of the consequences of human plastic use and treatment, but not a comprehensive assessment of global plastic pollution For the actual pollution situation, further research is needed, but it is enough to give us a warning The plastic in the micro water sample is enough to make us worry about the health status quo, and the mountain of plastic garbage in the macro world should have made us feel bad According to a study published in the latest issue of science advance, human beings have produced 8.3 billion tons of plastics since the early 1950s, most of which have become wastes and are placed in landfills or scattered in the natural environment The pollution caused cannot be ignored The researchers call for critical thinking about the use of plastic products and waste management to consider whether it is necessary to use plastic in some cases The team, led by researchers from the University of Georgia, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Marine Education Association, first analyzed the production, use, and ultimate fate of all plastic products around the world The researchers collected production statistics of various industrial resins, fibers and additives, and integrated the data according to product type and use Garbage on the beach, source: Gerry & Bonni via Flickr CC by 2.0 data shows that in 1950, the global plastic production was 2 million tons, but in 2015, it increased to 400 million tons, which exceeded any kind of artificial material except cement and steel Among the 8.3 billion tons of plastics produced by human beings, 6.3 billion tons of plastics have been completely discarded Only 9% of these waste plastic products are recycled, another 12% are incinerated, and the remaining 79% are buried in landfill or accumulated in natural environment There is no sign of slowing down in the pace of plastic production According to the current trend, there will be about 12 billion tons of plastic waste in the world by 2050 The analysis shows that, unlike cement and steel, which are mainly used in construction, they will have a service life of at least several decades The biggest market of plastics is packaging, and most products are disposable, which will be discarded after use The researchers point out that half of plastic products become waste in four years or less Most plastics will not be biodegraded They may last for hundreds or even thousands of years The white pollution caused by them cannot be ignored Previously, the research team showed that 8 million tons of plastic had entered the ocean in 2010 alone The researchers call for human beings to seriously consider the management of materials and wastes used Although plastics are indispensable in some fields, and there is no need to completely eliminate them from the market, there should be more stringent review on how to use plastics Plastics are everywhere, Even the Pacific Islands and the Arctic that we once thought were far away from the human world have found a lot of garbage The remote Pacific islands are covered with plastic garbage Henderson island is probably located between Australia and South America in the South Pacific It is a unique geographical environment, isolated dozens of unique plant and animal groups, and is the world heritage of UNESCO According to a new study in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the island has been passively invaded by plastic waste since the beginning of the last century According to the research team, the island has 671 plastic products per square meter, which is the highest density of plastic waste recorded by science "What happened on Henderson Island shows that even in the farthest reaches of our oceans there is no escape from plastic pollution," said Jennifer lavers, a researcher at the Institute of ocean and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania Henderson island is far from the original "desert island" of such a remote area, but a shocking but typical example of how plastic debris affects the environment on a global scale "The island is estimated to have 37.7 million pieces of plastic, and its area is just under 15 square miles Most of the plastic fragments are unrecognizable, at 79% Resin particles account for about 11% of the total About 6% is linear plastic, including fishing lines and ropes The most common sources of plastics are China and Japan, accounting for about 18% of the debris, followed by Chile, which accounts for about 12% of the sources Plastic waste will eventually flow to the Arctic as part of the earth, closely linked to the ecosystem that is being polluted by us The idea of destroying one part of an ecosystem without affecting others is silly, and research published in the journal science advances makes this fact clearer Even in the remote Arctic, we can't escape the fact that human beings discharge a lot of plastic waste in the world, the study found The distribution of plastics in the ocean, source: Katie peek's marine plastic pollution has attracted increasing attention since 1997, when Charles Moore accidentally found the Great Pacific Garbage belt while crossing the Pacific Ocean in the trans Pacific yacht race Now we know that at least six garbage strips, mainly made of plastic, are endangering the ocean According to statistics, there are as many as 300000 tons of plastic in the world's oceans Researchers from eight countries and 12 universities around the world, including the University of Cadiz in Spain, King Abdullah University of science and technology in Saudi Arabia and Harvard University, dragged their nets through the poles to see how much plastic they could pick up, and finally came to this conclusion They took samples from 42 sites, including Greenland Sea, Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Canadian Arctic islands, Baffin Bay and Labrador Sea Not many people live in the Arctic, which is not enough to explain the level of pollution they find The researchers in the study tried to trace the origin of the plastic, and it was no surprise that the plastic in the North Atlantic came from the far more polluted coasts of northwest Europe, the United Kingdom and the east coast of the United States Driven by temperature and salinity, currents usually send warm water to the cold Arctic Now, the current will also carry plastic travelers along the way Given our knowledge of human activities and ocean currents, it is not surprising that researchers have found plastic in the Arctic But it is disturbing that after decades of research, the Arctic is still considered primitive We have known for a long time that there are PCBs in Arctic whales Polar bears have been polluted by DDT for a long time Even the deepest animals in the ocean are being poisoned by toxic chemicals It's amazing that this is not only happening, it's happening all the time, and it will continue to surprise us The traditional view of plastic is relatively stable, so how does the plastic come into the water? Scientists have carried out research on this The micro plastic may come from the washing machine and gradually invade the world's water body A large number of plastic has shown a small but fixed amount So called "beads" have been found in cosmetics and hygiene products such as toothpaste and cream The flow of these plastic particles has been gradually reduced through legislation and voluntary changes by some companies But another source is clearly on the increase: according to a new study in journal Environmental Science and technology, polymer spinning on clothing will be separated from clothing during washing and discharged through washing machine wastewater Washing machines that produce plastic particles: laboratory equipment three scientists from the Swiss Federal Laboratory of materials science and Technology (EMPA) have studied nanoparticles The team looked at various factors, including the type of detergent, washing time and water temperature Detergents increase the amount of particles released, but neither the temperature nor the length of the washing time has an effect True