Do you continuously get coffee on-the-go in your option to the office or before meeting friends? A latest study suggests it is advisable to cut down on using disposable drinking cups.

In accordance with a recent study, published within the Journal of Hazardous Material, a single cup of takeaway coffee per week has the potential to reveal one to over 90,000 microplastic particles every year.

The microplastics present in the cups were lower than 50 microns in size.

The researchers from the Sichuan university in China experimented on three varieties of plastic materials which might be utilized in disposable cups- polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyethylene (PE).

Each style of cup was crammed with 400 milliliters of water, and the cup was then sealed with foil to cut back contamination by microplastics within the air. Next, the cup was swirled for a minute and the contents of the cup remained exposed to the plastic present within the cup for five minutes.

The experiment was carried out on a clean glass beaker to avoid any procedural contamination.

The outcomes were quite shocking. Polypropylene cups were the worst among the many three when it comes to the variety of microplastics released, which was concerning since these were widespread in consumption.

Furthermore, the residence time of 5 minutes of exposure to water within the cups led to release of around 723-1,489 plastic particles per cup, the evaluation showed.

“Based on the outcomes, we estimated that folks may unconsciously ingest 37,613–89,294 microplastics a 12 months attributable to using one plastic cup every 4–5 days,” researchers wrote of their study.

“Considering the potential harm of microplastics, the contamination of microplastics resulting from using plastic cups for drinks must be taken seriously,” the authors warned.

Also, the research team found a difference within the variety of microplastics released by the cups when subjected to hot water and cold water. Hot water led to the discharge of more microplastics.

Moreover, the swirling of the cups to mimic the shakiness of a coffee cup while in transit resulted in the discharge of much more microplastics.

Previous studies link microplastics to oxidative stress, inflammation, and even DNA damage.

Microplastics are increasingly becoming commonplace in today’s world. From water to clothes, persons are exposed to those harmful compounds routinely.

A recent study found the presence of microplastics in water trapped in between plant leaves.

“The primary finding of microplastics in small short-term water reservoirs created by plants is further evidence that contamination of this sort spreads through various pathways and doubtless no environment on Earth is secure, which in fact makes our discovery quite disheartening,” researchers said.