cang explains: Microplastics

We know, the name is pretty self-explanatory. Microplastics indeed are tiny pieces of plastic. But bear with us, there is much more than meets the eye.

What the cang?

Microplastics are defined as plastic particles that are smaller than 5mm. That essentially means that many of them are barely visible to the naked eye. Out of sight? For sure. Out of mind? Probably. Out of the equation? Hell no.

These little suckers can be found pretty much everywhere from cosmetics (as exfoliators or emulsifying agents), detergents, paints, medicines, nappies, pesticides — do we need to continue? To those thinking: “Yes, show us what you got!” we say: “Challenge accepted.” Fishing nets, plastic bottles, beer (oh no, not the beer!), cigarette filters, menstrual pads and much much more. On top of that, bigger plastics can break down over time into — guess what — microplastics.

The rest of the story can be summarised into the famous saying what goes around comes around. Microplastics happily continue their journey from the drain straight through the wastewater facilities that are not capable of filtering them out, and take a plunge right into the ocean. Then, fish and other sea creatures take turns eating or absorbing this 'plastic soup' that mixes with the ocean water. And since we are on the top of the foodchain, microplastics end up circling back to us whether we like it or not.

But…what can I do?

Glad you asked. Simply stop using products that contain microplastics. There is an entire sea of options out there! True, they might be a bit hard to find sometimes, but we are here to help.

cang has taken a pledge to only work with brands that say a hard NO to microplastics. That way, you know you are safe whenever you're shopping with us.

Also, there are plenty of trustworthy sources to use. For example, try Beat the Microbead (we love a good pun) which allows you to type the company or product name to find out whether microbeads are present or not.

Finally, if you are unsure about how this all works, feel free to reach out to us at share@cang.eco.