Catalog
What sheds, how much, what to swap
Particle counts from different papers are not comparable. Mass (g/year) is the more honest kitchen comparison where it exists. PVA dishwasher pods are contested — they sit at the bottom on purpose.
01 · impact 5/5
Plastic cutting board
Knife abrasion sheds PE/PP fragments straight onto food. Mass reviews find boards dominate controllable kitchen plastic by grams.
Shed. 7.4–50.7 g/person/year (PE) · ~49.5 g (PP) · 14.5–79 million particles/year
Swap. End-grain maple or teak for daily prep. Glass or steel only as a raw-meat sanitation board — they dull knives.
Yadav et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2023
02 · impact 5/5
Heating food in plastic
Heat is the accelerator. A few minutes in PP is the highest single domestic pulse measured per surface area.
Shed. Up to 4.22 million microplastics + 2.11 billion nanoplastics per cm² after 3 min microwave (PP/PE lab test)
Swap. Decant into glass or ceramic, then heat. Same rule for hot-fill leftovers.
Hussain et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2023
03 · impact 5/5
Plastic / silky tea bags
Nylon or PET mesh at 95 °C is one of the largest per-serving particle counts in the food literature.
Shed. ~11.6 billion microplastics + ~3.1 billion nanoplastics per cup (nylon/PET bags, 95 °C)
Swap. Loose leaf + stainless infuser, or bags sold as plastic-free paper.
Hernandez et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019
04 · impact 4/5
Plastic kettle / hot-water path
Boiling water against polymer is daily thermal stress. New plastic kettles shed most.
Shed. On the order of 10⁵–10⁷ particles per early boil in plastic kettles
Swap. Electric kettle with stainless or Schott glass water path. Check the lid underside.
Kettle boil-down studies compiled 2024–2026
05 · impact 4/5 · contested
Plastic coffee machine (hot brew path)
Near-boiling water through PP/ABS reservoirs every morning. Few papers isolate one model; the physics matches other hot-plastic contact.
Shed. Not one canonical particle number per brand. Treat hot plastic brew paths as a high-frequency source.
Swap. Chemex or ceramic V60 + steel kettle; stainless French press; stainless moka.
Inference from Hussain 2023 + kettle/cup heat studies — medium confidence
06 · impact 4/5
Bottled water in PET
Consistently dirtier than tap in particle studies. Cap twisting adds more.
Shed. ~325 particles/L (Mason 2018) · later nanoplastic work reports orders of magnitude more
Swap. Tap in glass or steel. If taste is the issue, a carafe filter — not a case of PET.
Mason et al., Front. Chem. 2018
07 · impact 4/5
Scratched non-stick (PTFE)
Intact coating sheds little. A crack or flake is a particle event.
Shed. ~9,100 particles from a single scratch · up to ~2.3 million from a broken coating
Swap. Stainless, carbon steel, or seasoned cast iron.
Luo et al., Sci. Total Environ. 2022
08 · impact 3/5
Hot takeaway in PP/PS
Warm food against thin containers is a short, hot contact, and takeaway food itself already carries a measurable microplastic load by the time it reaches you.
Shed. ~639 microplastic items/kg in takeaway food on average · an estimated 170–638 items/week from ordering 1–2x/week
Swap. Plate it on arrival. Bring a steel lunch box if you buy hot food often.
Bai et al., Environ. Res. 2022
09 · impact 3/5
Synthetic wash + indoor fibres
Laundry is the big drain-pipe source. Wear and carpets feed indoor air.
Shed. ~700,000 fibres per 6 kg acrylic wash (Napper & Thompson 2016)
Swap. Wash cooler, fuller, less often. External drain filter. Prefer cotton/linen/wool when replacing clothes.
Napper & Thompson, Mar. Pollut. Bull. 2016
11 · impact 3/5
Rinse-off cosmetics & toothpaste
US microbead ban killed most PE beads. Remaining risk is older stock, glitter, some pastes, and lip polymers.
Shed. Older PE-bead toothpastes ~4,000 particles per brush in one 2019 paper.
Swap. Paste without PE specks. Beeswax / shea lip balm.
ESPR toothpaste work 2019; US Microbead-Free Waters Act
12 · impact 3/5
Kids’ lunchboxes & pouches
Small bodies, daily heat in a backpack, squeeze pouches.
Shed. No child-specific particle standard. Treat warm food against thin PP/PE as the adult takeaway pathway, every school day.
Swap. Stainless box + stainless bottle.
Inferred from takeaway / storage heat papers — medium confidence
13 · impact 3/5
Fleece bedding & synthetic carpets
You breathe the fibre cloud, not just sleep in it. A 2025 study measured real household air, not modelled garment wear.
Shed. 528 microplastics/m³ median in home air (up to 2,238/m³ in car cabins) · modelled inhalation up to 68,000 particles/day
Swap. Cotton or linen sheets when they wear out. Wool blanket.
Yakovenko et al., PLOS ONE 2025
14 · impact 2/5
Garden & animal housing plastics
UV-brittled crates and turf shed fragments into dust you track indoors.
Shed. Almost no household-dose papers. Treat sun-baked brittle PE/PP as a dust + ingestion source.
Swap. Wood, steel, ceramic feeders. Shade plastic you cannot replace yet.
Outdoor polymer weathering literature — low confidence for a personal dose
15 · impact 1/5 · contested
Dishwasher / laundry pods (PVA film)
The film is a plastic (PVOH/PVA). Whether it becomes microplastics in real sewers is contested. Do not buy fear here.
Shed. No settled household particle number. Parked at low impact until the chemistry lands.
Swap. Powder in a steel tin if you want to sidestep the debate. Not a top-ten kitchen swap.
Industry dissolve work vs advocate papers — unresolved