There can be 240,000 plastic particles in a litre bottle of water

Own brand one-litre water bottles from three unnamed US supermarkets each contained hundreds of thousands of microscopic plastic particles

By Chen Ly

8 January 2024

Scientists used lasers to identify plastic particles within water bottles

Naixin Qian, Columbia University

A single 1-litre bottle of water could contain 240,000 microscopic plastic particles. The health implications of ingesting plastic are unclear, but early research suggests such particles could travel into various organs within the body.

Millions of tonnes of plastic are produced every year as a result of human activity, such as the fishing industry and domestic waste. Most of this is made up of microplastics, which measure between 1 micrometre and 5 millimetres across.

Previous research suggests that microplastics can act as carriers, transporting pollutants and pathogens, says Beizhan Yan at Columbia University in New York.

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We constantly eat microplastics. What does that mean for our health?

Plastic fragments that measure under 1 micrometre across are known as nanoplastics and could present an even greater concern than microplastics. Their smaller size means they may be more likely to penetrate the body’s gut lining, the placenta and even the blood-brain barrier, says Yan.

The size of nanoplastics makes them difficult to detect, but now Yan and his colleagues have developed an innovative technique to do so.