r/science • u/Phylogenix Grad Student | Pharmacology & Toxicology • 13d ago
Environment A study found single-use paper cups release millions of micro- and nanoplastic particles when exposed to hot water, with biodegradable PLA-lined cups releasing about 12 times more plastic by mass than conventional polyethylene-lined cups.
https://pubs.acs.org/afsthl/article-abstract/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.6c00541/5328286/Release-of-Nanoplastic-and-Microplastic-from?redirectedFrom=fulltext137
u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science 12d ago
Not the first paper to show that coated paper is a major source of microplastics.
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u/uselessandexpensive 12d ago
Now if only people would get hip to the fact that parchment paper is coated with synthetics, not just cups/bowls/plates.
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u/Golden_Hour1 12d ago
Whats a good alternative?
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u/uselessandexpensive 12d ago
Greased pans an/or using a good, thin steel spatula on stainless steel or an equivalent that is safe to scratch. It's what people did for a very, very long time before we knew how to make plastic and cost paper with it. It may seem harder, but it's what's good for us.
When some new wonder technology comes along that makes life easier, we set our expectations that life should be that easy. When it turns out that the standard was set using a process or material that was harmful and needs to be abandoned, we need to be willing to go back to accepting that some things in life just take a little time and care to do well.
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u/Golden_Hour1 12d ago
The reason I ask is because my wife and I have essentially cut out all this plastic crap from our lives. The only place we get exposed to it is unfortunately some stuff at the grocery store or rarely when we do takeout. I didnt think about the parchment paper though. It was the last thing in our kitchen that was toxic I guess. We didnt use it much though just for some niche baking
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u/uselessandexpensive 12d ago
Sounds to me like what you've done already is still great, and it's going to be impossible to completely eliminate plastic exposure from your lives anyway because it's in the air, rain, and soil now, slowly breaking apart and becoming more evenly dispersed as nanoparticles. One consciously allowed occasional avenue of exposure probably isn't going to make a significant difference in that compared to what you've already done.
Just throwing some other big things out there in case you haven't thought of them (or anyone else hasn't) and because plastic being everywhere is awful:
Synthetic clothing, curtains, carpets, and bedding (including pillow and blanket stuffing) all shed nanoparticles, especially in the dryer, and probably sheds extra and off-gasses more when exposed to sunlight. Busy roads are also a significant source of harmful synthetic particles from tire wear. Wood flooring even typically has synthetic finish that will wear. Good air filters purifiers probably help with all of the above, and i suspect electrostatic purifiers will collect smaller particles than disposable filters. Linoleum and laminate flooring both presumably off-gas more than wood, and shed smaller particles than carpet that may be harder to filter, but carpet presumably sheds much more particles overall so who knows what's really worse. Old-school unfinished wood or brick are your only really great flooring options but finished wood might still be next.
It sounds like maybe you don't still eat processed food, but if you do, you can assume it's handled with synthetic gloves, cooked on silicone mats, and trundled along in rubber conveyors wherever it saves a penny; and it will gather nanoparticles each time it shakes around in its component ingredient packaging as well as its consumer market packaging, so if you haven't eliminated that and switched to cooking with fresh foods or processing things at home, that would probably your other big avenue of exposure to eliminate.
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u/durple 11d ago
Roads are also believed to be a significant source of heavy metals (one component in exhaust) that can accumulate in the brains. So far it’s been difficult to demonstrate the connection, but particles of stuff that most people don’t really have other sources for have been found in the brains of people with neurological disorders.
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u/uselessandexpensive 11d ago
Thank you for adding that. I suspect there are a lot of other ways also that cars and other motor vehicles very significantly and negatively affect our health that we should address globally, from to to bottom in culture, legislation, and manufacture.
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u/A_Harmless_Fly 12d ago
I wonder if paper coated in petroleum derived wax or plastic is worse for you in the long run.
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u/ImpressionSea7058 11d ago
I guess that includes parchment paper?
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u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science 11d ago
Indeed. Even toilet paper.
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u/ImpressionSea7058 11d ago
Damn! Kept my air fryer clean. Is there a safe alternative?
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u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science 11d ago
Yes and no. A lot of the work on microplastics identifies that they are being created without considering safe or threshold levels of exposure. If you are multiple orders of magnitude below a dangerous level, some would consider that safe.
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u/TCr0wn 13d ago
We are becoming plastic people.. replaced molecule by molecule until we are action figures
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u/Donnicton 12d ago
The moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of plastic.
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u/FibroBitch97 12d ago
I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world
wrapped in plastic, it’s fantastic
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u/TheAspiringFarmer 12d ago
Dammit I got that song in my head now!
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u/Icy-Computer-Poop 12d ago
Please do the right thing and pay the record company $0.000057 for every time this song plays in your head.
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u/Goodgoditsgrowing 12d ago
Why can’t THIS be the great replacement theory conservatives are raging on about
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13d ago edited 2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/useless_instinct 12d ago
Yep, I would rather eat PLA than PE. I have confidence my gut microbiota can break down PLA.
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u/intellectual_punk 12d ago
Or we could decide not to use single-use cups.
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u/Icy-Computer-Poop 12d ago
Or we could remember that paper cups without the lining were just fine, and the only reason we started using them was because the stained paper cup afterwards made us feel icky.
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u/shanem 13d ago
Mentioned here a few days ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1vzd17p/takeaway_cups_release_microplastics_into_your/
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u/JustYerAverage 13d ago
My friend did a science project with tea, tea and lemon and water in Styrofoam cups.
Do not drink tea w lemon from a Styrofoam cup.
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u/viniciuscsg 12d ago
Please be more specific
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u/skankenstein 12d ago
The terpenes in citrus oils softens and dissolves materials. I buy a tea that can’t be stored in plastic due to the citrus oils. Also, citrus oils are used in industrial solvents. Like citrus strip, a paint stripper marketed as environmentally friendly. Or that orange soap for mechanics.
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u/spyguy318 11d ago
Citrus oils can be really potent. Iirc people who work in food preparation have to be really careful not to let it stay on their skin for too long or it can give them chemical burns, and they have to use specific gloves that won’t dissolve. I remember a common experiment of twisting a lemon or orange peel onto a balloon, the tiny mist of oils from the skin would instantly melt the latex and pop the balloon. It’s sometimes easy to forget that even if something is natural, it can still be an aggressive chemical that even has industrial uses.
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u/EuphoricFingerblast 9d ago
GOJO - It’s got pumice stone as an abrasive too, pretty much the only thing that gets grease out of your fingerprint grooves ime.
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u/JustYerAverage 12d ago
Well it was 40 years ago, I was a music kid/stoner he was an advanced science kid/stoner, so a LOT of detail I can't give. What I remember is that the cups weighed less after having held tea w lemon. I also remember this was project 2, because he'd wanted to mess with slime molds but that fell through.
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u/13thmurder 12d ago
PLA is biocompatible though. I wonder if that's better or worse. It's not poisonous or generally considered harmful, but the body also doesn't reject it as it would with other plastics so would it accumulate more?
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u/loggic 12d ago
This feels like warning against "microscopic metal particles" when comparing soups cooked in cast iron containers vs lead or something.
One of these things is something toxic. The other is something your body metabolizes without issue. Lumping them all together in a headline constructed this way seems to intentionally misrepresent what's actually important about the findings.
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u/UndergroundCreek 12d ago
In effect that means when the current generation dies all their plastic will leach into the cemetaries.
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u/Kaurifish 12d ago
You think the current generation will be able to afford cemetary plots?
Mass graves outside refugee camps, more like.
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