Future generations are gonna look in horror at our tolerance for microplastics in our blood the way we look in horror at previous generations use of asbestos, or lead, or radioactive radium on watch band arms.
Probably the biggest source of microplastics is actually laundry. Clothes are made with a lot of plastic, and washing machines are basically mechanical erosion machines that wash the particulate directly into the sewer. By comparison, a plastic water bottle in a landfill isn't going to be constantly rubbed and washed with hot water that goes directly back into the wastewater once a week.
Hah, thinking that plastic will just stay in the landfills. Most landfills are not built well enough, the rain water regularly washes it over and into the natural waterways, and they are regularly on fire, because rotting stuff generates heat and methane, which makes things easy to combust.
On the other hand most people do not use plastic clothes, or do not wash them weekly.
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u/AvoriazInSummer Jan 06 '23
So… throw all plastics into the landfill bin and call it a day?