Comment on Cleaning plastic containers in a dishwasher is a source of microplastic pollution, study finds
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 week agoDishwashers usually wash hotter than you do in the sink & reuse the water, so I’d imagine they also produce more microplastic in the process.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Hotter yes, but no plastic-on-plastic scrubbing. And not reusing the water wouldn’t change the amount of plastic, it would just be diluted in a larger amount of water. My guess would be, larger particles. But I can see why that would have to be its own, more complicated study. Because so many more variables.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Do you know that water with microplastics doesn’t cause even more microplastics? Seems reasonable to me - the existing microplastic should be ground even finer, and also cause more microplastic to be ground off.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Interesting thought, we’ll have to include it in our study. I posit that the microparticles from hand washing will be larger anyway, because method, and will include plastic from the scrubber as well as the containers.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 week ago
There’s a good chance! Really depends on the impact of temperature, though since we’re still waaaaay below the melting point of plastic, intuitively I’d agree with you.