28/06/2019

Water filtration in the fight against microplastics

A recent study has found that the average person now consumes the equivalent of a credit card’s worth of plastic in just one week¹. That’s the same as ingesting 2,000 tiny pieces of plastic, with roughly 1,769 of those plastic particles coming from our water.  

Faced with the fact we could be consuming such a large amount of plastic from our water each week, the importance of water filtration has never been clearer.

What are microplastics?

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic 5mm or smaller and can be categorised by source. There are two main types, primary and secondary. Primary are purposefully made to be small, such as microbeads used in facewash and shower gels. Secondary microplastics are created by larger pieces of plastic breaking down.

Microplastics are too small to be picked up by basic water filtration systems and easily make their way into our rivers and oceans. This has disastrous consequences for marine life, as well as our health, not to mention that the plastic could remain in the water forever!

What’s the solution?

Although standard unfiltered tap water in the UK is one of the most regulated in the world, it can still contain numerous chemicals and contaminants. There’s even the potential for traces of lead if your house has old pipes, which can be harmful for pregnant women and children if allowed to build up in the body.

While you may think ‘off the shelf’ bottled water is a cleaner option, last year a study found that over 90 percent of single use bottled ‘spring water’ contained microplastics – at nearly double the amount found in tap water². On top of this, single-use plastic water bottles are contributing to the wider plastic pollution problem.

The most effective way you can ensure you have drinking water free from microplastics and contaminants is to get a high-quality, mains-fed water filtration system. Installing a drinking water system – such as those in the Zip HydroTap G4 range – will not only provide you easy access to sustainable drinking water but also protect you against the ingestion of microplastic particles as small as 0.2 micron.

Beat microplastics with first class filtration

Zip MicroPurity filtration is 25 times more effective than your standard water filter jug. Our 0.2 micron filters remove microplastics and other contaminants such as dirt and bacteria, as well as 97 percent of chlorine and 99.9 percent of microbiological cysts (if present), all the while retaining beneficial minerals such as calcium and potassium.

As well as ensuring you have water free from contaminants, our advanced filtration system will also importantly provide pure tasting water. With no need to buy expensive bottled water to satisfy your taste, a Zip drinking water system will save you money over time, perfect for your pocket, the planet and your taste buds.

[1] https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/theplasticfreeproject/plastic-pollution-water-food-uk-eat-drinking-credit-card-microplastics-a4165221.html 
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/15/microplastics-found-in-more-than-90-of-bottled-water-study-says