Reduce the Amount of Microplastics in Your Food

You won’t be able to eliminate every microplastic from your food and kitchen. To maintain your sanity, keep a few things in mind. It’s best to focus on microplastic sources that aren’t essential and are easier to remove. And you don’t have to change everything at once—take your time. 

Avoiding plastic at the grocery store is an easy place to start. Buy ketchup in a glass jar or greens bundled with a rubber band instead of wrapped in plastic. Try using cloth or reusable produce bags to avoid single-use plastic bags. 

Do the same at home. Ditch your plastic kitchenware for wood cutting boards or glass containers, for example.

Do your best to avoid water bottled in plastic; cans or glass bottles may be better. Filtering tap water that you cook with or drink at home can also help. Although filtration technology is still being developed, reverse osmosis systems seem to be the most promising for removing microplastics from drinking water, even though their components are also made of plastic. (We’ll also have more on filtration systems in a forthcoming installment.)

Zero in on staples in your diet and research whether there are ways to avoid microplastics in them. For instance, I eat a lot of rice, so I rinse it with filtered water before cooking, something that has been found to reduce microplastic levels by up to 40 percent. When possible, I buy the greens for my daily smoothie at a farmers market and bread from a baker where they aren’t wrapped in single-use plastics, and I grab produce like tomatoes that are loose instead of in plastic packaging. 

Keep hot food away from plastic. This is a big one: Chemicals and microplastics leach at significantly higher rates under high heat, so don’t put hot food or liquid in plastic, which could quickly contaminate your dinner. 

Try heating frozen dinners in a microwave or oven-safe glass container. Paper coffee cups are lined with plastic that sheds at shocking levels, so take a stainless steel cup or thermos to your local coffee shop instead. Many French presses or drip coffee makers contain plastic parts, but I found a French press with no plastic and a plastic-free pour-over. Avoid boiling rice in bags, and if you’re a regular tea drinker, seek out brands that use nonplastic or nylon bags.