​​Machine dishwashing adds more substances into plastic containers 


Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found several hundred different chemical substances in clean tap water stored in reusable plastic bottles for a few hours. In their experiments, the researchers mimicked the ways in which many people typically use plastic drinks bottles. The researchers left ordinary tap water in both new and used drinking bottles for 24 hours, both before and after machine washing, as well as after the bottles had been in the dishwasher and rinsed thoroughly in tap water.

"What is released most after machine washing are the soap substances from the surface. Most of the chemicals that come from the water bottle itself remain after machine washing and extra rinsing. The most toxic substances that we identified actually came after the bottle had been in the dishwasher - presumably because washing wears down the plastic and thereby increases leaching," explained the researcher Selina Tisler of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.

In new reusable bottles, close to 500 different substances remained in the water after an additional rinse. Over 100 of these substances came from the plastic itself.

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