Each year, over 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels.
Each year, over 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally from petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels. Only 9% of this plastic is recycled and 19% is incinerated; 72% goes to landfills, other dumpsites or ends up in our environment. These plastics degrade into smaller and smaller pieces, through exposure to sunlight, wind or waves, eventually becoming microplastics or even smaller nanoplastics.
What are nanoplastics? Microplastics are plastic pieces or fibers less than 5 millimeters in size— smaller than a pencil eraser. As they degrade further, they become nanoplastics, which measure less than 1 micrometer—1/1000 of a millimeter. Nanoplastics behave very differently from larger fragments of plastic because they are so tiny, have relatively large surface areas and are more reactive. They cannot easily be observed, characterized or quantified. However, we do know that over 1,500 species, including humans, ingest these plastics. Nanoplastics have also been found in oceans, rivers, the Alps, Antarctic ice, foods and in bottled and tap water.
Nanoplastics in bottled water. A 2024 study by Columbia University scientists revealed that a liter of bottled water (they tested three brands they did not identify) contained between 110,000 and 370,000 particles, 90% of which were nanoplastics; the rest were microplastics. The study’s coauthor Beizhan Yan, an environmental chemist at Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said, “Previously this was just a dark, uncharted area. Toxicity studies were just guessing what’s in there.” But for this study, a new method called Raman scattering microscopy, developed by study coauthors Wei Min and chemistry graduate student Naixin Qian, hit plastic particles with laser beams, enabling the scientists to analyze their chemical structure and identify specific nanoplastics. Seven common plastics were recognized, including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which water bottles are made of, and polyamide (PA), which is used to filter water before it is bottled.
Read More: Columbia Climate School
