"These "magic" sponges are made of melamine foam, a lightweight plastic material with a fine grit that acts like sandpaper to lift grime and tackle tough messes with minimal effort. Just add water, scrub a little bit, and watch the trickiest messes disappear in no time. Their mix of simplicity and power has made them a must-have cleaning tool around the world - but all that "magic" may come at a cost."
"With an estimated average of 10% wear during everyday cleaning (a statistic provided by researchers), the team paired their findings with August 2023 monthly sales data from Amazon. Their jaw-dropping calculation? About 1.55 trillion microplastic fibers could be released into the environment each month worldwide - and that's only accounting for sales from Amazon, which is just one retailer, meaning there are likely trillions more. That means microplastic particles going down your drain"
Melamine sponges, commonly called "magic" sponges, are made of melamine foam, a lightweight plastic with fine grit that acts like sandpaper to lift grime. Users activate them with water to scrub away tough stains on appliances, countertops, and walls. Researchers measured microplastic release by running various melamine sponges across textured metal surfaces and found one sponge can shed 6.5 million microplastic fibers per gram of wear. Using an estimated 10% wear rate and August 2023 Amazon sales data, researchers estimated about 1.55 trillion microplastic fibers could be released monthly worldwide, with likely higher totals when including other retailers.
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