London<\/a>, has seen firsthand how plastics are reshaping ecosystems from the tropics to the poles. Here\u2019s are their ten top tips for limiting your exposure to microplastics\u2026<\/p>\n ![\"Tiny](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/102974863-15190973-image-a-1_1760449184418.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Tiny bits of plastic are causing toxic effects in all ecosystems and, perhaps most alarming, is that microplastics have been detected in human blood, lungs and even the placenta<\/p>\n
1. Vacuum regularly<\/p>\n
\u2018Most people think of plastic pollution in the form of stuff like plastic bottles,\u2019 says Couceiro, \u2018but there are also your polyester curtains and nylon carpet to consider. These shed particles that are easily inhaled.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Portsmouth University\u2019s Port-Eco House, a property dedicated to research, has been fitted with monitors and sensors, allowing Couceiro and her team to measure airborne microplastics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This highlighted the amount of \u2018soft plastics\u2019 quietly shedding fibres into the air we breathe. Happily, there\u2019s a simple solution. \u2018You don\u2019t need to hoover all day, every day,\u2019 Couceiro says. \u2018Just once a day or every other day makes a meaningful difference.\u2019<\/p>\n
2. Wear fewer clothes for longer<\/p>\n
Koldewey was thousands of miles away, on a research boat in the Chagos Archipelago, when she realised just how prevalent microplastics from clothing (microfibres) are and how far they can travel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There, in one of the most scarcely populated regions on earth, her research discovered high concentrations of blue and black plastic fibres from clothing. It had a big effect on Koldewey: \u2018I buy far fewer clothes these days,\u2019 she says, \u2018and those I do buy tend to be made of natural fibres like cotton and bamboo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018A single 6kg wash of acrylic clothes can shed about 730,000 microfibres,\u2019 Koldewey tells me, but notes that \u2018studies show the amount [shed] drops as clothes get older\u2019. So, it\u2019s important to wear your existing wardrobe for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
3. Open a window<\/p>\n
Given two-thirds of clothing in the average closet is now made of plastic, even folding your laundry can release plastic fibres into the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Couceiro runs a brilliant demo with her students: \u2018I get them to put their phone face-up, black screen, and then fold clothes next to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the end of the session, their screens are covered in fibres.\u2019 As a result, she recommends opening a window when you\u2019re hoovering or folding laundry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Ventilation is hugely important,\u2019 she says. Except if you live near a main road. \u2018If you live next to a dual carriageway, opening the window might introduce more pollutants than it removes.\u2019<\/p>\n
4. Avoid heating food in plastic<\/p>\n
Heating up food up in plastic containers is an absolute no-no for Swan. \u2018You don\u2019t ever want to put food inside plastic and then warm it in any way, because the containers do not hold the polymers in heat, and they leave the containers and go into the food and then go into us.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Couceiro, who noticed her own plastic soup mug had developed white rings from being in the microwave, agrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Those marks show heat damage and that\u2019s where it was releasing particles,\u2019 she says. Now she keeps the old soup mug for show-and-tell and has switched to ceramic and glass.<\/p>\n
5. Decant your microwave meals<\/p>\n
Plastic films used to cover ready meals are another culprit. \u2018You are told to pierce the lid and microwave it, but the film\u2019s already been stressed and is starting to fragment,\u2019 Couceiro says.<\/p>\n
Her fix? \u2018Just decant the food into a ceramic bowl and put a plate on top. It traps steam the same way but reduces your exposure significantly.\u2019<\/p>\n
6. Swerve plastic kitchen tools<\/p>\n
Those plastic spatulas and spoons in your kitchen drawer? They\u2019re bad news.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m watching out for anywhere that plastic coating is being used as a barrier, such as plastic-coated cookware or utensils, because that barrier will contain PFAS,\u2019 says Swan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PFAS are also known as \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 due to the way they linger in the human body, building up around the kidneys and liver where they can have a detrimental impact on our immune function.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead of plastic kitchenware, Swan recommends that we opt for stainless steel or wood.<\/p>\n
7. Take five seconds to rinse your fruit<\/p>\n
\u2018If you\u2019re going to eat the skin of something, like an apple or a pear, just rinse it before eating,\u2019 says Couceiro. \u2018Even if it\u2019s been sitting in plastic packaging, rinsing can help reduce the number of microplastic particles.\u2019<\/p>\n
8. Beware the ugly side of beauty<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t wear make-up, and I don\u2019t do my nails,\u2019 says Swan. While few of us will be prepared to go this far in avoiding chemicals, there are a few things you should be aware of when it comes to plastics in cosmetics. \u2018Nobody wants to rub plastics on their face or swallow plastics by choice, but you have to look carefully at ingredients,\u2019 says Koldewey. The Yuka app is great for identifying potential toxins in grooming products. Since 2018 it has been illegal for manufacturers to formulate using microbeads in wash-off personal-care products. This may have given us a false sense of security, because microplastics still sneak into leave-on products. \u2018Your exfoliating scrub might be fine, but your blusher or lipstick could still contain plastic. And if it\u2019s something you put in or around your mouth \u2013 like lipstick or dental products \u2013 that\u2019s where ingestion becomes a real possibility,\u2019 says Couceiro.<\/p>\n
9. Limit kids\u2019 contact\u00a0\u00a0with plastic<\/p>\n
\u2018I have two children,\u2019 Couceiro says, \u2018and I ensure they\u2019re not surrounded by plastic all the time. They have teddies \u2013 some are plastic, which is unavoidable \u2013 but their bedding is all cotton and I don\u2019t have carpets in their bedrooms [though wool, jute, sisal and seagrass are all great floor coverings without the microplastic load].\u2019<\/p>\n
10. Be conscious before conceiving<\/p>\n
Whereas it might be costly and impractical to rid everyday life of plastic, Swan thinks that there is one time you should focus one hundred per cent on a plastic purge \u2013 when trying to conceive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She says men should reduce exposure to harmful chemicals (avoiding almost all plastics) at least three months beforehand, because that\u2019s how long it takes for new sperm to form.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once pregnant, the baton passes to the woman. At this point the fetus is especially sensitive to chemical exposure \u2013 and what the mother is exposed to can affect the baby\u2019s lifelong health.<\/p>\n
But our experts all stressed that nobody should feel under pressure to throw out all their plastics and make costly painful interventions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Nobody should beat themselves up for imperfect choices,\u2019 says Koldewey, \u2018my advice is to identify the hardest things to change, then decide if you\u2019re ready to give them up or find alternatives.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year ago, an international group of experts put \u2018humanity on notice\u2019 after reviewing 7,000 studies on microplastics.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,105,1444,16,15,1445],"class_list":{"0":"post-513720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-home","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-you"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115405089960358583","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}