You'll Be Flabbergasted to Learn Which Contains More Microplastics: Plastic Bottles or Glass Bottles

You'll Be Flabbergasted to Learn Which Contains More Microplastics: Plastic Bottles or Glass Bottles

"We expected the opposite result."

Bottom of the Bottle

French government scientists have discovered something startling about the microplastic content in glass and plastic bottles.

As the Agence France-Presse reports, scientists at the country's food safety regulator found that glass-bottled drinks contained about 100 microplastic particles per liter, which amounts to roughly 25 particles per gallon — and, strikingly, up to 50 times higher than the amount found in drinks stored in plastic bottles.

When measuring the amount of microplastics found in lemonade, iced tea, soft drinks, and beer housed in either glass or plastic bottles, researchers at the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ASNES) were surprised at the counterintuitive findings.

"We expected the opposite result," Iseline Chaib, an ANSES microplastics expert and PhD student who conducted the research, told AFP.

"We then noticed that in the glass, the particles emerging from the samples were the same shape, color and polymer composition — so therefore the same plastic — as the paint on the outside of the caps that seal the glass bottles," Chaib continued.

Contamination Station

As the ANSES team discovered, there's a wide range of microplastic content depending on beverage type.

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