Microplastics
Mechanical filtration rather than chemistry, so the pore size of the cartridge is what decides it.
Some filter jugs handle thisMicroplastics are a physical problem rather than a chemical one, which makes them one of the easier things for a filter to deal with — provided the filter has a fine enough physical barrier rather than just an adsorbent bed. Membrane jugs and solid carbon blocks have that; loose granular carbon largely does not. There is a real irony in filtering microplastics out of your water using a polypropylene jug, and it is one reason the glass and steel-bodied jugs have found a market.
How you know you have it
- Not detectable domestically
- Generally a reason people filter on principle rather than in response to a specific test
What works
LifeStraw's hollow-fibre membrane, solid carbon block cartridges such as Epic's, and Philips' Micro X-Clean, which makes a specific microplastic claim.
What does not
Loose granular carbon with no fine mechanical stage.
Cartridges that reduce microplastics
Ordered by strength of evidence, not by brand. An independently certified claim outranks a lab-tested one, which outranks a manufacturer’s word for it.
Questions
Does a filter jug remove microplastics?
Some do, and most do not. LifeStraw's hollow-fibre membrane, solid carbon block cartridges such as Epic's, and Philips' Micro X-Clean, which makes a specific microplastic claim.
What does not work: Loose granular carbon with no fine mechanical stage.