A 2019 study estimated that one plastic teabag released 2.3 million microplastic particles larger than one micrometre, but Germany’s food-safety agency repeated the test and found only 5,800 to 20,400 — arguing that the original method dried dissolved plastic compounds into solid specks and mistakenly counted many of them as microplastic

A 2019 study estimated that one plastic teabag released 2.3 million microplastic particles larger than one micrometre, but Germany’s food-safety agency repeated the test and found only 5,800 to 20,400 — arguing that the original method dried dissolved plastic compounds into solid specks and mistakenly counted many of them as microplastic

A viral study claimed teabags released billions of microplastics—but new tests suggest the original researchers may have been counting dissolved plastic that had re-solidified, not actual particles.