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Scientists tested 3 popular bottled water brands for nanoplastics using new tech, and yikes

The results were alarming—an average of 240,000 nanoplastics per 1 liter bottle—but what does it mean for our health?

Suzy Hazelwood/Canva

Columbia University researchers tested bottled water for nanoplastics and found hundreds of thousands of them.

Evian, Fiji, Voss, SmartWater, Aquafina, Dasani—it's impressive how many brands we have for something humans have been consuming for millennia. Despite years of studies showing that bottled water is no safer to drink than tap water, Americans are more consuming more bottled water than ever, to the tune of billions of dollars in bottled water sales.

People cite convenience and taste in addition to perceived safety for reasons they prefer bottle to tap, but the fear factor surrounding tap water is still a driving force. It doesn't help when emergencies like floods cause tap water contamination or when investigations reveal issues with lead pipes in some communities, but municipal water supplies are tested regularly, and in the vast majority of the U.S., you can safely grab a glass of water from a tap.

And now, a new study on nanoplastics found in three popular bottled water brands is throwing more data into the bottled vs. tap water choice

Researchers from Columbia University used a new laser-guided technology to detect nanoplastics that had previously evaded detection due to their miniscule size.

The new technology can detect, count and analyze and chemical structure of nanoparticles, and they found seven different major types of plastic: polyamide, polypropylene, polyethylene, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate.

In contrast to a 2018 study that found around 300 plastic particles in an average liter of bottled water, the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January of 2024 found 240,000 nanoplastic particles per liter bottle on average between the three brands studied. (The name of the brands were not indicated in the study.)

As opposed to microplastics, nanoplastics are too small to be seen by microscope. Their size is exactly why experts are concerned about them, as they are small enough to invade human cells and potentially disrupt cellular processes.

“Micro and nanoplastics have been found in the human placenta at this point. They’ve been found in human lung tissues. They’ve been found in human feces; they’ve been found in human blood,” study coauthor Phoebe Stapleton, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy told CNN Health,

We know that nanoplastics are making their way into our bodies. We just don't have enough research yet on what that means for our health, and we still have more questions than answers. How many nanoplastics does it take to do damage and/or cause disease? What kinds of damage or disease might they cause? Is whatever effect they might have cumulative? We simply don't have answers to these questions yet.

That's not to say there's no cause for concern.

We do know that certain levels of microplastic exposure have been shown to adversely affect the viability of cells. Nanoplastics are even smaller—does that mean they are more likely to cause cellular damage? Science is still working that out.

According to Dr. Sara Benedé of the Spanish National Research Council’s Institute of Food Science Research, it's not just the plastics themselves that might cause damage, but what they may bring along with them. “[Microparticles and nanoparticles] have the ability to bind all kinds of compounds when they come into contact with fluids, thus acting as carriers of all kinds of substances including environmental pollutants, toxins, antibiotics, or microorganisms,” Dr. Benedé told Medical News Today.

water plastic bottle on seashorePhoto by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash

Where is this plastic in water coming from?

This study focused on bottled water, which is almost always packaged in plastic. The filters used to filter the water before bottling are also frequently made from plastic.

Is it possible that some of these nanoplastics were already present in the water from their original sources? Again, research is always evolving on this front, but microplastics have been detected in lakes, streams and other freshwater sources, so it's not a big stretch to imagine that nanoplastics may be making their way into freshwater ecosystems as well. However, microplastics are found at much higher levels in bottled water than tap water, so it's also not a stretch to assume that most of the nanoplastics are likely coming from the bottling process and packaging rather than from freshwater sources.

assorted bottled waters on shelfPhoto by Giuseppe Famiani on Unsplash

The reality is, though, we simply don't know yet.

“Based on other studies we expected most of the microplastics in bottled water would come from leakage of the plastic bottle itself, which is typically made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic,” lead author Naixin Qian, a doctoral student in chemistry at Columbia University, told CNN Health. “However, we found there’s actually many diverse types of plastics in a bottle of water, and that different plastic types have different size distributions. The PET particles were larger, while others were down to 200 nanometers, which is much, much smaller.”

We need to drink water, and we need to drink safe water. At this point, we have plenty of environmental reasons for avoiding bottled water unless absolutely necessary and opting for tap water instead. Even if there's still more research to be done, the presence of hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics in bottled water might just be another reason to make the switch.


This article originally appeared on 2.2.24

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Adidas takes a solid step toward sustainability with a new embrace of recycled plastic.

The plan will save 40 tons of plastic each year.

Adidas is rolling out a bit of welcome news to people who love sports and care about the environment.

On July 15, Financial Times reported the sports apparel company plans to phase out use of "virgin" plastics (first-use plastic that hasn't been recycled), switching over exclusively to recycled plastics by 2024. This pledge includes the company's products as well as its offices, stores, warehouses, and other facilities. A CNN report puts the amount of plastic saved at 40 tons per year.

Over the past couple of decades, Adidas has made a number of other adjustments to its product lines in the name of sustainability. Its website notes that with a few small exceptions, the company stopped using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in its products in favor of more sustainable and low-impact plastics in the years since.

Adidas displays Germany's World Cup jersey in June 2018. Photo by Hans-Martin Issler/Getty Images for Adidas.

Adidas isn't alone, either. A bunch of other companies are making moves to a more sustainable future.

At this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 11 global brands pledged to move towards 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging. Amcor, Ecover, Evian, L'Oréal, Mars, M&S, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Walmart, and Werner & Mertz all signed on to make the shift by 2025. Ultimately, if there's hope to reassess how much plastic we use and how we use it, it'll take consumer pressure on brands to embrace sustainable technologies.

Individual decisions are good — such as choosing not to use plastic cutlery, not using single-use straws unless you have to, and opting for reusable bags at the grocery store — but it's brands that can make the big changes. Putting pressure on brands to find newer, more sustainable options can also have the effect of fueling innovation and technological advances.

Plastic use is a real problem in need of a real solution.

A report from earlier this year pegged the size of the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" at three times the size of France, spanning 617,800 square miles and made up of 79,000 tons of plastic. It's gross, it's sad, and it's absolutely avoidable. Globally, 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year.

[rebelmouse-image 19397473 dam="1" original_size="750x562" caption="NOAA divers cut a Hawaiian green sea turtle free from a derelict fishing net during a recent mission to collect marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Photo by the NOAA Photo Library/Flickr." expand=1]NOAA divers cut a Hawaiian green sea turtle free from a derelict fishing net during a recent mission to collect marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Photo by the NOAA Photo Library/Flickr.

According to the most recent data out of the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States places more than 25 million tons of plastic in landfills and burns nearly 5 million tons, but recycles just 3.1 million tons each year. The trend isn't looking so good, either. National Geographic found that 91% of the world's plastic isn't being recycled, and if we keep on the pace we're at, there will be 12 billion tons of plastic in landfills globally by 2050.

We deserve a world free from trash. More companies should follow the lead of Adidas and others.

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Horrified by how much plastic is in the ocean, this girl ramped up her recycling game.

Anyone can be an environmental superhero.

True
Garnier Beauty Responsibly

Miranda Legg has always known the recycling basics, but she didn't realize just how harmful plastic can be if not recycled properly until she visited a sea turtle hospital in Florida.

At the time, she was a sophomore in high school, and she recalls seeing helpless sea creatures living with injuries, sometimes permanent ones, that were the result of plastic garbage in the ocean. Miranda has carried the experience with her ever since.

[rebelmouse-image 19495974 dam="1" original_size="640x453" caption="A turtle stuck in the plastic rings that hold soda cans. Photo by Stefan Leijon/Flickr." expand=1]A turtle stuck in the plastic rings that hold soda cans. Photo by Stefan Leijon/Flickr.

It was a closeup view of a worldwide epidemic. According to a study published in Science Magazine, more than 8 trillion tons of garbage makes it into the ocean every year. And, if things don't change soon, that number could increase 10 times over in the next decade.

The harrowing statistics hit Miranda hard. She was determined to do something to try and counteract them.  

Thankfully, she was already in touch with DoSomething.org, a nonprofit that helps people, especially younger generations, make a positive impact on the world. The organization is essentially an online tool that connects people with social good campaigns that speak to them, making it easier than ever to get up and help.

Miranda had already participated in a few of DoSomething's campaigns in the past, so when she received an email from them alerting her to Garnier and TerraCycle's Rinse, Recycle, Repeat College Competition, she immediately applied to take part.

DoSomething is currently partnered with Garnier's Rinse Recycle Repeat campaign, which is educating the younger generations about how to recycle their beauty products the right way. Half of Americans don't recycle them at all which is part of why beauty and personal care products make upapproximately one-third of the trash in landfills. This campaign is working to shrink those statistics.

"I really wanted to participate because, one: I love a good competition, and two: I loved the cause," writes Miranda in an email.

Photo by Miranda Legg.

The rules were simple — starting April 1, 2018, the 50 national colleges that had made it into the competition would compete to collect as many empty beauty and personal care plastic containers as they could. Whichever college team had collected the most empties by the end of April would be named the winner, and rewarded with a green garden for their community. The team leader would also receive a $2,000 scholarship.

Motivated by competition and the desire to inspire positive change, Miranda put out rallying cries on social media for friends, students and teachers to bring her their bathroom bottles.

She sent emails around to everyone she knew who either went to Winston Salem State University or lived close to her home. She set up recycling boxes all over campus and at both her parents' places of business. She also encourages people to get rid of old products that were just taking up space.

"One thing that really helped was I asked everyone to go through their space under the bathroom sink and see what is expired," explains Miranda. "For example under my sink I found a sunscreen that had expired in 2007."

We're all guilty of holding onto products for months or even years after their expiration date. So not only was Miranda helping the environment, she was giving tons of people the perfect opportunity to de-clutter.

Thanks to an incredibly supportive network of family, friends, teachers, and classmates, by the end of the competition, Miranda had collected over 5,000 empties.

But was that enough to win her the title of #1 college empties recycler?

DoSomething had a leaderboard going throughout April on their website so people could see how the college teams were doing. While Miranda was often in the lead, there was a point towards the end where she sat firmly in second place. Scared she wasn't going to pull out ahead, she once again implored her recycling troops to bring her anything and everything they had left.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day to turn in recycling for my #rrrsweepstakes campaign! We have a total of 4,213 so far!...

Posted by Miranda Legg on Saturday, April 28, 2018

That final motivating push turned out to be more than enough — by the last week in April, Miranda's final empties count was almost double that of the team in second place.

Now that Miranda's won the competition, she can't wait to help turn empties into a green garden for her school. If all goes according to plan, the garden should open in either September or October with a commemorative ribbon cutting ceremony and volunteer day.

"I am so excited to see how it is going to turn out, but it really wouldn’t be possible without Garnier and Terracycle," writes Miranda. "I’ve seen some of the gardens they have made before and they are amazing."

But don't think for a second that just because the competition's over, Miranda's going to stop working for a cleaner planet. She's got bigger plans.

She's doing a Plastic Free July, which is simply refusing single-use plastic like bags at convenience stores or plastic straws at coffee shops. While these may sound like little, inconsequential things, Miranda knows more than most just how much of an impact these adjustments make on the environment.

Armed with knowledge like this, Miranda's now that person who always takes plastic bottles out of the trash and recycles them. She also advocates for reusing and proper recycling whenever she can.

But most importantly, Miranda wants people to know that large-scale change can and does start with one person. It's just about making small adjustments and incorporating them into your day to day life. If you can do that, you're helping all of us get closer to a cleaner planet.

If you want to join Miranda in being a better recycler, start collecting empty beauty containers. Once you've accumulated 10 pounds, mail them to TerraCycle. So far, Garnier's Rinse Recycle Repeat campaign has kept over 10 million empties out of landfills.

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Starbucks is ditching straws. Here are 5 other ways to keep plastic out of the ocean.

Starbucks is the latest company to ditch plastic straws as a way to help clean up our oceans.

A single straw may seem like a tiny blip on the radar of environmental blights, but then consider that 500 million straws are used by Americans — just Americans — every day. According to CNN, that's enough plastic straws to fill 125 school buses. Every. Single. Day.

Plastic straws are a perfect size and shape for marine life to ingest, and since most of those straws end up in the ocean, that tiny blip multiplied by billions each year equals a significant problem.

Some cities have banned single-use plastic straws — though not without legitimate controversy — and many restaurants have stopped handing them out as a rule. McDonald's has plans to phase out plastic straws in its U.K. restaurants. And now Starbucks says it plans to phase out plastic straws by 2020 and redesign their drink containers to create a better strawless drinking experience.

But straws aren't the only plastic problem for our planet.

We all know by now that our oceans are in dire need of a cleanup. Thankfully, we have some promising technologies designed to help clear the garbage patches — which are largely made up of plastic debris — that have built up in the ocean's gyres.

Cleaning it up is important, but so is the fact that we need to stop contributing to the problem. Humans use and toss away tons of plastic — like straws — that many of us simply don't need to use in the first place. And despite our efforts to make sure we throw away and recycle things properly, far too much of that plastic ends up in the ocean, altering the ecosystem and threatening marine life.

Here are some ways — in addition to skipping the straw — that we can all keep more plastic out of the ocean.

1. Shop with reusable bags. Some states and cities have banned plastic grocery bags in an attempt to encourage people to bring their own. There are lots of affordable, durable alternatives to plastic grocery sacks, and they're easy to keep on hand. Though it takes some time to develop the habit of remembering to bring your own bags into the store, it's worth the effort.

2. Stop using Ziplocs. This one is tough, as few things are more convenient than a Ziploc bag. But miraculously, people survived for millennia without them, so it's definitely possible to go without. If a hard reusable container just won't cut it, try a beeswax-lined cloth snack pouch. All the convenience of a plastic bag, but without the ecological footprint.

3. Carry a reusable water bottle. Not only are plastic water bottles you buy in the store a waste of plastic, they're also a waste of money. We live in a developed nation where clean, drinkable water can be found around every corner, yet we spend up to 1,900 times more money than we need to on buying bottled water — and many of those bottles end up on beaches or floating in the ocean. Stainless steel or glass water bottles are great alternatives.

4. Buy in bulk. That little plastic bottle of oregano in the spice section of your grocery store has a high environmental and financial cost. Look for stores that sell items in bulk bins, and ask the store if they will "tare" a container you bring from home. (That means they weigh the empty container and subtract that weight from the final total after you've added your bulk item.) Spices in particular are usually far cheaper to buy in bulk, and other items, like flours, grains, and beans, often are too.

5. Pick up trash when you see it. This may seem like a no-brainer, but many of us are squeamish about picking up garbage out in public. We all pass garbage on our sidewalks and streets all the time, and much of it will eventually end up being washed into the sea. Make it a goal to pick up trash every time it's in your path and place it in the appropriate receptacle. (But don't put garbage in overflowing cans with no lid — it will end up blowing right back out.) An extra hand washing is a small price to pay for keeping trash out of the ocean.

Small changes in our collective habits can make a difference.

Though we all enjoy convenience, when it comes to plastics, our comfort has a high cost. Reducing our consumption, recycling when we can, and reusing as often as possible is still the trifecta of environmental stewardship. If we all do our part, we can keep our oceans clean, healthy, and beautiful for generations to come.

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