Drinking or not drinking: Microplastic contamination in single-use water containers

Concern about the presence of microplastics (MPs) in food and beverages is increasing, given their still unknown effects on the human body. In this study, the presence of MPs in drinking water from single-use plastic bottles (n = 60) and carton beverage (n = 24) from the Italian market was analyzed. The results show the presence of MPs in 55% of the samples. On average, plastic bottles contained 7.6 ± 8.4 items/L, while beverage cartons contained 6.2 ± 1.4 items/L, after blank correction, with an overall range of