Cleaning plastic containers in a dishwasher is a source of microplastic pollution, study finds

https://phys.org/news/2025-05-plastic-dishwasher-source-microplastic-pollution.html

115 points · 37 comments · view on lemmy.world

37 Comments

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 47 pts · 1y (9 replies)

Betcha scrubbing them in the sink does too. It's just harder to set up a controlled study.

Yeah I wish they would have done that. Would be interesting to see. Hand washed plastic containers are subjected to much more mechanical scrubbing action, but much less heat.

ProvableGecko@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y

My dish sponge is plastic.¯_(ツ)_/¯

FooBarrington@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y (6 replies)

Dishwashers usually wash hotter than you do in the sink & reuse the water, so I'd imagine they also produce more microplastic in the process.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 1y (5 replies)

Hotter yes, but no plastic-on-plastic scrubbing. And not reusing the water wouldn't change the amount of plastic, it would just be diluted in a larger amount of water. My guess would be, larger particles. But I can see why that would have to be its own, more complicated study. Because so many more variables.

FooBarrington@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y (4 replies)

Do you know that water with microplastics doesn't cause even more microplastics? Seems reasonable to me - the existing microplastic should be ground even finer, and also cause more microplastic to be ground off.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 1y (3 replies)

Interesting thought, we'll have to include it in our study. I posit that the microparticles from hand washing will be larger anyway, because method, and will include plastic from the scrubber as well as the containers.

FooBarrington@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y (2 replies)

There's a good chance! Really depends on the impact of temperature, though since we're still waaaaay below the melting point of plastic, intuitively I'd agree with you.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

So where do we get our funding? I'm thinking about a billion, if we call it The Big Beautiful Golden Study, sponsored by plastic and dishwasher manufacturers.

FooBarrington@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

No no no, you have to think about it differently. Neither of those industries will want to sponsor something like this. Instead we have to go with their natural enemies - and was is the opposite of plastic (i.e. what is non-plastic)? Obviously concrete!

protist@mander.xyz · 24 pts · 1y (7 replies)

Basically any situation where plastic is warmed is a source of microplastic contamination

Microplasticbrain@lemm.ee · 17 pts · 1y

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Wahots@pawb.social · 13 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Probably mechanical abrasion too. Like car tires. Or your carpets/rug. Or your toothbrush. Or your nylon/sport/athlesure wear. Or soft, non-natural blankets, haha. I bet your furniture, too...

desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 1y

wool carpets for the win.

Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1y (2 replies)

And yet somehow it lasts forever in a landfill.

We can't win.

18107@aussie.zone · 15 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Just wash your dishes in a landfill.

Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg · 1 pts · 1y

So that's why Oscar is always hiding in the trash can grumbling!

Ledericas@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 1y

water with cleaning chemicals probably leaches some out too.

Wahots@pawb.social · 8 pts · 1y (7 replies)

And people are grossed out when they learn that people can have enough micro/nanoplastic in their brain to make a disposable plastic spoon (2g). :)

magiccupcake@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1y (3 replies)

It's up to a credit card now (9g)

Source

EySkibidiBabBab@feddit.dk · 12 pts · 1y

When i die i want my brain plastic to be used for a warhammer figurine!

Dwayne_Elizondo_Mountain_Dew_Camacho@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

The methodology used to get that result is supposedly very questionable.

I heard it here:

Science Vs: Is There Really a Plastic Spoon in Our Brains?

Not to minimize the impact of microplastics, but the credit card amount is probably way off.

magiccupcake@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y

No offenses, but I'm gonna put a lot more weight behind a peer reviewed Nature paper, rather than some random podcaster.

The explained their methodology pretty well. They extrapolate the microplastics amount from a small bit of cortical tissue, and compared it to previous results. Yeah there might not be as much in other parts of the brain, but we don't have a reason to think it would be drastically different.

match@pawb.social · 2 pts · 1y (2 replies)

the microsplastic keep my brain smooth and flexible :3

Romkslrqusz@lemm.ee · 4 pts · 1y

Neuroplasticity

Wahots@pawb.social · 2 pts · 1y

This made me chuckle

photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 1y (2 replies)