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Carry-On Closet® Original
Jade in the Shade Large
USD
$270
$320
Jade in the Shade Large
USD
$270
$320
Plastic pollution threatens wildlife and our ecosystems, but most alarmingly, plastics directly threaten human health! We are consuming them in our food and drinking water with undetermined health consequences. Read on to find out more about how deep this problem runs and how we can protect ourselves!
As highlighted above, 83% of drinking water worldwide is contaminated with microplastic fibers, and for the US this figure is as high as 94.4% of drinking water![6]
This plastic is getting into our waterways from the products we use and the way we manage our waste. Microplastics are in our personal care and home care products that we flush down the drain as well as in our clothing that sheds microplastic fibers in washing machines. We are literally bathing in plastic.
In fact, we are drinking plastic in our water from the bottles we package it in! A study by the WHO shows that 93% of bottled water tested contains microplastic debris.[7] In Nestle Pure Life, concentrations are as high as 10,000 plastic pieces per liter of water![8]
First of all, plastic is a direct ingredient in what we put in our mouths. Gum is plastic. Although it used to be made out of chicle from trees, gum today is made out of plastics, rubber, and wax ~ the same materials used to manufacture car tires, inner tubes, and toys![9] We offer this petroleum, latex, PVA hybrid to children at parties and on airplanes…[10]
As you’ve heard before, microplastics in the environment are consumed by marine organisms, accumulating up food chain and ending up on our plates in the seafood we consume. A joint study between UC Davis and Hasanuddin University of Indonesia found plastic materials in the guts of ¼ of fish sold in markets in both California and Indonesia.
In California, the plastic is mostly in the form of fibers washed off from clothing in machines, while in Indonesia, the plastic is a symptom of the lack of waste management infrastructure.
[2] http://www.sph.umn.edu/news/plastic-particles-common-tap-water-beer-salt/
[3] https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/5446/quarter-fish-sold-markets-contain-man-made-debris
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3791860/
[5] https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.5b03909
[6] https://cleantechnica.com/2017/09/10/94-us-tap-water-micro-plastic-fibers-study-finds-oh-sea-salt-beer-flour-honey-buy-well/
[7] https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/03/16/study-finds-microplastics-in-93-percent-of-bottled-water-infographic/#4bec68df73fa
[8] https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/03/16/study-finds-microplastics-in-93-percent-of-bottled-water-infographic/#4bec68df73fa
[9] https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/02/know-chewing-gum-contains-plastic-7790722/
[10] https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-is-in-chewing-gum/
[11] http://justoneocean.org/chewing-gum