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Reducing microplastics in tea infusions released from filter bags by pre-washing method: Quantitative evidences based on Raman imaging and Py-GC/MS
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Researchers measured the microplastics released from tea filter bags during brewing and found up to 1,288 micron-sized particles per bag. However, a simple fix -- washing the tea bag three times with room temperature water before brewing -- removed 76-94% of the microplastics. This practical finding gives tea drinkers an easy way to significantly reduce their microplastic intake from a common daily exposure source.
Microplastics released from plastic-based filter bags during tea brewing have attracted widespread attention. Laser confocal micro-Raman and direct classical least squares were used to identify and estimate micron-sized microplastics. Characteristic peaks from pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and nylon 6 were selected to construct curves for quantification submicron-sized microplastics. The results showed that microplastics released from tea bags in the tea infusions ranged from 80 to 1288 pieces (micron-sized) and 0 to 63.755 μg (submicron-sized) per filter bag. Nylon 6 woven tea bags released far fewer microplastics than nonwoven filter bags. In particular, a simple strategy of three pre-washes with room temperature water significantly reduced microplastic residues with removal rates of 76 %-94 % (micron-sized) and 80 %-87 % (submicron-sized), respectively. The developed assay can be used for the quantitative evaluation of microplastics in tea infusions, and the pre-washing reduced the risk of human exposure to microplastics during tea consumption.
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