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One litre of bottled water contains thousands of microplastic particles
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Saturday, 17 March, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Washington, D C
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A single litre of bottled water can contain thousands of microplastic particles. These were the findings of tests on over 250 bottles from 11 leading global brands, published in a New Orb Media report. The plastic debris, which was found in 93 per cent of the tested samples, included polypropylene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
The global average was 325 particles per litre. Particle concentration ranged between zero and over 10,000 likely plastic particles in a single bottle. The study was supervised by Sherri Mason, chair, department of geology and environmental sciences, State University of New York
at Fredonia, and a leading microplastics researcher.
Two leading brands from India, namely Bisleri (a Bisleri International brand) and Aquafina (a PepsiCo product), have also come under the scanner. While the particles found per litre in bottles of Bisleri ranged between zero and 5230, the number per litre in bottles of Aquafina ranged between two and 1,295.
Other brands tested included Aqua (Danone), Dasani (Coca-Cola), Epura (GEPP*), Evian (Danone), Gerolsteiner (Gerolsteiner Brunnen), Minalba (Grupo Edson Queiroz), Nestlé Pure Life (Nestlé), San Pellegrino (Nestlé) and Wahaha (Hangzhou Wahaha Group).
Samples came from 19 locations in nine countries on five continents. These included Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand and the United States. The majority of the samples came in plastic bottles. Water in glass bottles was also found to contain microplastics.
The tests also showed a much greater number of even smaller particles that researchers said were also likely plastic. The sizes ranged between the width of a human hair and the size of a red blood cell. While some bottles were found to contain thousands, a few effectively had no plastic at all.
Packaged drinking water is a lifeline for many of the 2.1 billion people worldwide who lack access to safe tap water. The danger is clear: Some 4,000 children die every day from water-borne diseases, according to the World Health Organization.
Humans need approximately two litre of fluids a day to stay hydrated and healthy, and even more in hot and arid regions. Orb’s findings suggested that a person who drank a litre of bottled water a day consumed tens of thousands of microplastic particles each year.
The research and reporting firm partnered with members of the Orb Media Network (OMN), a group of global agenda-setting media, which has collaborated to simultaneously publish this
story.
By working together, Orb and OMN catalyse global dialogue on critical issues, focusing the attention of the government, industry, researchers, civil society and the public.
OMN members include the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cadena SER-PRISA (Spain), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh), Deutsche Welle (Germany), Die Zeit(Germany), Folha de São Paulo (Brazil), The Hindu (India), SVT (Sweden), Tempo Media Group (Indonesia) and YLE (Finland).
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