Simple ways to get plastic off your plate

We are all becoming much more aware of the amount of microplastics in the environment around us. For example, do you know how much microplastic material is on your dinner plate? No? Well, you’ll be both surprised and horrified in about equal measure.

According to recent research carried out by the University of Portsmouth who tested the amount of microplastic found on two roast dinners the results were alarming. One of the dinners had been wrapped in plastic and the other was largely free of plastic packaging. The researchers discovered that the plastic wrapped dinner had seven times more microplastics than the other. To put that into perspective, that’s the equivalent of eating two large plastic shopping bags a year!

Whilst the results are shocking, what can we, the average man or woman, on the street do about it? After all we don’t all have electron microscopes in our sheds to check our food for a build-up of microplastic contamination, do we?

Right now, it’s not that easy, but things are moving in the right direction with manufacturers reducing or removing plastic packaging from their products, but progress is painfully slow. But there are some simple ways that you can reduce the amount of microplastics we consume. For example, avoid putting water into plastic drinking bottles, use string bags for vegetables and fruit in shops and perhaps even transfer food from plastic containers to ceramic bowls before microwaving. It won’t stop all microplastics, but it will reduce what you consume.