Scientists have recently revealed a simple yet effective way of removing plastics from water.
Previous reports revealed that tiny particles of microplastics are entering our bodies in alarming amounts, particularly through our food and drink.
In a study published in the Environmental Science & Technology Letters, a team from Guangzhon Medical University and Jinan University in China did a test on both soft and hard water.
Researchers write in their paper, "Tap water nano/microplastics (NMPs) escaping from centralized water treatment systems are of increasing global concern, because they pose potential health risk to humans via water consumption.”
Before boiling the liquid, they added nanoplastics and microplastics.
Surprisingly in most of the cases, more than 90 percent of the NMPs were removed by the boiling and filtering process, although its effectiveness depended on the type of water.
Biomedical engineer Zimin Yu from Guangzhou Medical University and colleagues, said in a statement, "This simple boiling water strategy can 'decontaminate' NMPs from household tap water and has the potential for harmlessly alleviating human intake of NMPs through water consumption.”
A larger amount of NMPs was removed from hard tap water, which tends to form limescale (calcium carbonate) when heated.
While, in soft water, with lower dissolved carbonate levels, roughly a quarter of the NMPs were still captured.
"Drinking boiled water apparently is a viable long-term strategy for reducing global exposure to NMPs," write the researchers.
The researchers show hope and also urge everyone to boil water before drinking and make this a common practice as plastic pollution continues to spread world wide.
