I'll offer "don't microwave in plastic containers" as a starter for ten.
Second might be "get a metal water bottle".
* switch from microfiber to e.g bamboo sheets
* donate blood periodically to reduce your body’s load https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2790905
* add a filter to your washing machine to divert microplastics from the wastewater e.g. https://planetcare.org/The explanation is that you're throwing away all the hormones, inflammatory factors, toxins, etc floating in the blood and giving you body a chance to "reset" with what it actually wants/needs.
Maybe investment is required in FANG industries (apologies to Charles Stross)
https://e360.yale.edu/features/tire-pollution-toxic-chemical...
Is there even a way to get same characteristic with say fully natural rubber. And would such rubber also be free of any risks?
Related is improving airflow and vacuuming regularly so that these particles don't accumulate as much.
Eating cotton for breakfast is being considered on HN at the moment.
I think the real solution is to try to buy less clothing, reuse old clothing, use clothing longer, and reduce consumption from the worst offenders: fast fashion. Yes, you are still exposing yourself to plastics in your own home, but my impression is industrial production is by far the largest producer of microplastics.
But ultimately, look around the grocery store or just life - everything's got plastic in it. If there are drastic negative health consequences to plastics (and it's looking really likely that there are), what the hell do we do about it? We've almost certainly committed too far to plastics to fix it on any meaningful scale.
I bought a silly machine, a Faema Jubilee, and the only other I seriously considered was a Linear Mini.
Since then I talked with a repair tech and have seen inside both.
The Linear is an amazing machine but the combo of having lots of plastic parts and lots of computerisation makes me wonder about longevity. High heat and plastic is rarely a great combo. The tech hated working on the Linea, and I can’t get past its fake brew paddle. No regrets on the Faema, it’s a beautiful machine and all the faults in its coffee are due to me, not the machine.
Given that it bio accumulates trying to get closer to the bottom of the food chain should reduce intake.
While you're switching back to porcelain, glass, and metal, avoid things made in China if you can. Their porcelain and glass is high in lead (often poisonously so).
Eliminate any black or charcoal colored plastics that you can. When you get to-go containers for food, transfer it to a dish (porcelain) or bowl (porcelain or glass) immediately when you get home before putting it in the refrigerator.
Never microwave with plastic wrap (a.k.a. cling film). We use paper towels if it must be covered, or another plate if it's liquid.
No plastic utensils, no "paper" plates (paper plates are mixed with plastic to make them hold up better) and have their own forever chemicals in them.
Get a pour-over kit (ceramic or porcelain, glass, and metal). We still use paper filters, but make sure they're actually paper.
No polyester clothing, or at least more than 65% or 70% cotton.
There is a hint of Juicero to the concept.
Food:
- avoid all that came into contact with plastics, use glass containers
- sea salt has microplastics in it, rock salt can be a better alternative
- don't use plastic utensils or equipment, like plastic grinders
- overall, avoir processed and packaged food, buying locally helps
- eat smaller animals: bioaccumulation is worse in larger animals
- I almost completely eliminated all seafood from my diet, if you want to eat fish, prefer the smaller ones
- use glass water bottles or reverse osmosis system that can filter smaller particles for drinking water
- if you enjoy soda, you should know most of them are contaminated, that is because carbonation increases internal pressure and mechanical stress on the bottle walls, which can accelerate the degradation of the plastic and release of particles. And it gets worse: every time you open the bottle, the pressure release causes even more degradation
- therefore for soda: use glass bottles too, cans are coated with plastic but not as bad as the bottles (they use epoxy resin which is more stable and the stress on cans is less than plastic bottles), but here glass is still king.
- I use a service in my city that delivers boxes of glass water and soda, it probably exists in your city too and is more affordable than you might imagine
- there is not much you can do to avoid microplastics outside, car tires supposedly account for 28% of all microplastics entering the environement, avoid living close to busy street? Truth is we don't have enough studies and data to truly know about that
- use an air purifying system for your home, the commercial ones are mostly bs, make yourself one with at high MERV rating (MERV 13 or above), there is a whole community of DIY builders, look it up
- use a vacuum cleaner that uses bags and possibly has an HEPA filtering, this will prevent you from blowing all the microplastics that may have shed on your floor into the air, make sure to keep in properly maintained
Or then just give up and live with my plastic cutting boards...
There are so many neat cutting boards available, with suitably eye watering prices. I made I nice Rimu one (though admittedly it was glued) out of old house framing that was otherwise going to be binned. Chopping down these ancient hardwood trees for house framing is depressing to think about. https://gatherandyou.co.nz/products/handmade-rimu-chopping-b...
New Zealand has Totara trees which are truly beautiful. Over 100 year old Totara fence posts are still on various farms and some research group was buying them and extracting something out of it as a trial acne treatment.
Plenty of other woods have rot resistant properties too. Puriri comes to mind, it used to be a common house pile, but wow is it horrible to cut.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podocarpus_totara https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitex_lucens