LifeStraw announced in advance of Earth Day that its water filtration products achieved a removal rate of 99.999% of microplastics from drinking water in independent lab testing. Microplastics are small plastic pieces that range from five millimeters long to 6.5 micron. The milestone comes on the heels of two recent studies conducted by Orb Media reporting that 93% of bottled water and 83% of tap water is contaminated with harmful microplastics.
The bottled water study examined 259 bottles from 11 popular bottled water brands across 19 locations in nine countries and found an average of 325 plastic particles in every liter of water sold, coming from the packaging and bottling process. The tap water study found that billions of people globally are drinking tap water contaminated by plastic particles.
“Single-use plastic bottles have long posed an environmental threat,” said Alison Hill, managing director of LifeStraw. “With recent reports on the affect bottled water has on human health, we have a responsibility to provide alternatives for safe hydration for consumers as well as communities in need and to minimize single-use plastic bottle pollution. LifeStraw has the solution.”
Independent testing this week confirmed that LifeStraw’s single-stage and two-stage filtration systems achieve a microplastics removal rate of log 5 (99.999%) from contaminated water, while also removing bacteria and chemicals. LifeStraw’s consumer water filtration products provide reliable and versatile alternatives to bottled water enabling safe hydration from a local tap or nearby river or stream. One LifeStraw product provides up to 8,000 water bottles worth of safe drinking water, reducing the need for single-use plastic bottles that are polluting the world’s oceans.
