For the people in the comments who either won't or seemingly can't read the article: The paint on the top of the caps is plastic-based and before they're put on the bottle they're stored in a big jumbled up pile where the paint chips off and coats the caps in tiny flakes. When the cap gets put on the bottle, the flakes on the bottom of the cap get washed off into your drink. Studies show that washing the caps first dramatically reduces the micro-plastic contamination.
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
369 points (93.2% liked)
science
19661 readers
1034 users here now
A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.
rule #1: be kind
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
WTF. Guess I'm an android now, because I'm half plastics on the inside.
In a bizarre twist, plastic bottles have been found to contain alarming levels of microglass.
jajaajajajajajajajjjaaj
Title seems misleading.
As the micro plastics were found on the paint outside the bottle cap. It seems complicate that that ended on the drink itself. Unless you are licking the bottle cap it doesn't seem that relevant.
No, the microplastics were found in the content of the bottles. The cap thing is where they come from. As a reply to you explained, the microplastic from the top of a cap is scratched by another cap and ends up on the bottom of yet another cap.
I think because there is a helix twist that glass would grind away the plastic every time it’s recapped. Hence why at the end of the article it is urging manufacturers to use air and alcohol to clean the cap before fitting it to the bottle. Additionally using something other than a plastic cap to reseal the bottle when being used. And especially not one with a helix requiring a twist. You can use a wine reseal which requires no twisting
The paint on the caps also had "tiny scratches, invisible to the naked eye, probably due to friction between the caps when there were stored," the agency said in a statement.
This could then "release particles onto the surface of the caps," it added.
Paint scratches off the outside, then sticks to the inside and makes it into the drink.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Wait...we not licking bottle caps anymore?!
We just need glass caps then
Or just unpainted aluminium caps.
I thought bottle caps were steel.
they usually have a plastic lining inside them, or are painted.
In a bizarre twist, glass caps have been found to contain alarming levels of microdrink.
I quite like the swing tops with a small rubber ring that makes the seal. Easily reused too. Which is better than recycling.
When I was a kid they were made from metal
When I was a kid they were made from cork.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Just pour it from the glass bottle to the plastic bottle. Problem solved
So nothing coupled to the glass but rather the cap having a extra plastic layer on the wet side.
load more comments
(10 replies)
view more: next ›