Today's friends, for various reasons, often order takeaway delivery meals. But you may not know that using disposable foamed plastic tableware, when the temperature reaches 65°C, the harmful substances in the tableware will penetrate into the food.
Heated for 3 minutes, the plastic lunch box releases billions of plastic particles
In July 2023, the journal Environmental Science and Technology published a study on the release of microplastics and nanoplastics from plastic containers in different use scenarios. The results found that microwave heating resulted in the highest amount of microplastics and nanoplastics released into food compared to use in refrigeration or room temperature, with more than 2 billion nanoplastics and 4 million microplastics released per square centimeter container.
The researchers selected a "food-grade plastic container" composed of polypropylene and polyethylene, heated it in a microwave for 3 minutes, and analyzed the liquid inside the container and found that many microplastics (about 1 micron in diameter) and smaller nanoscale plastic particles, estimated to release 4.22 million micron plastic particles and 2.11 billion nanoplastic particles in 1 square centimeter of plastic.
The researchers also found that plastic containers produced the highest number of micron plastic particles when used for heating liquids, including water, milk, etc., and released much less micron plastic if they were only used for refrigerated storage of food or beverages.
Therefore, if you use the microwave to heat food every day, it is best not to use plastic containers.
When shopping, we also often come into contact with plastic shopping bags. But in fact, regardless of the quality, plastic bags are mainly made of waste recycled plastic as raw materials, the source is complex, the items that have been stored are unknown, and it is easy to bring impurities into recycled products.
In addition to causing harm to our human body, plastic also has a great impact on our agricultural development. As waste plastic products accumulate in the soil, it will affect the absorption of nutrients and water by crops, resulting in reduced crop yields.
Food does not avoid harm, and so do small animals. Plastic waste products discarded on land or in water bodies can lead to the death of animals if swallowed as food. This is not to scare you! In zoos, pastoral areas, rural areas, and the ocean, such things are not uncommon.
And one more point! Plastic is very stubborn, if the waste plastic products that go into domestic waste are landfilled, then even if it takes 200 years, it will not be degraded. Waste plastics will not only occupy a large amount of land with landfill, but also the occupied land will not be restored for a long time, affecting the sustainable use of land.
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