Filtering drinking water can remove microplastics. (After boiling)
FTFY
this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2025
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instructions unclear drinks boiling water
Wouldn't this also just put a lot of them into the air? We know both nano and micro forms can be found in atmosphere, so it would seem this would displace a portion from the water into the air via steam, no?
binds to calcium.. becomes particulate large enough for filtration
I get that part, but that can't be the entire volume of everything in the water.
No. That's not how steam works. It won't carry solid or liquid particles with it. The plastic would have to vaporize, which it does not.
Except you're ignoring the part where we've captured microplastics in our atmosphere at various levels including upper.
Microplastics can be carried by water vapor alone.
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/15/7/863 https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/microplastics-impact-cloud-formation-likely-affecting-weather-and-climate https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723008094
Plenty of more sources that definitively state that nanoe and microplastics ride on water vapor and can be captured in atmosphere.
The articles don't say that atmospheric microplastics are coming from boiling water or that it is a hypothetical means they are getting there. Again, that's not how steam works. You are essentially talking about a distillation process. Solid particulate is not transported by distillation.
The major source of microplastics in our environment comes from tires and brake pads. They are emitted directly into the air. The amount of microplastics that hypothetically could possibly be emitted from your personal drinking water or that of all humans is not significant next to automobile sources, even if it were possible.
That is not at all what my point is.
You're asserting that a body of water that has microplastics wouldn't emit them via steam from boiling water, and I just provided you with sources saying that microplastics are present in the water vapor of our atmosphere...meaning they are light enough to be carried in water vapor...steam is water vapor.
You're then trying to assert that microplastics are lighter than air, which they are not. Nano plastics who even knows, but your secondary follow-up makes no sense because the former is true from the links I provided.
This...
This is exactly how we got into this mess
People don't like consuming pieces of plastic, so we'll break it down into pieces so small they can't be detected!
I can't wait to freak out about teeny-plastics in 2045 and hear about how they're poisoning my balls and brain
Pre-emptive edit:
Yes, I'm aware that the article says the heat causes calcium to crystalize around the plastic then needs filtered out. If you believe heat that high isn't causing very very small (and undetactable) pieces of plastic are coming off...
Sooo... you don't want cleaner water because...?
i can see it now...
~~conservatives~~ fascists; 'hey, heres a nifty 300$ filtration system you can install that will automatically boil and filter on your behalf, american made!'
~~democrats~~ conservatives; ' we have a guarantee by all major manufactures who can spell plastic to join a committee to potentially reduce plastic use by 4% over the next 75 years! until they, boil your shit. '
~~progressives~~ democrats; 'no regulation says whhhhhat?'