Microplastics are microscopic particles of plastic that are less than 5 millimeters in diameter. Larger pieces of plastic are broken down in the ocean and develop into microplastics. As the ocean water evaporates, sodium chlorine appears and forms sea salt. So, can microplastics be found in sea salts? My objective was to see if microplastic particles are present in sea salts of different qualities. My experiment involves 6 groups of salt (No Salt, 365 sea salt, Northgate sea salt, Trader Joe’s sea salt, Himalayan salt, and Morton sea salt). In my experiment, I gathered salts of different price points and dissolved 50 grams of each salt in 500 milliliters of water. Then, using a vacuum filtration system, I filtered the mixture through a pink dyed membrane and examined the filtered product with a microscope. I dyed the filter membrane pink to visibly see microplastics through the microscope. I hypothesized that the most expensive salt will have the least amount of microplastics in the membrane filter because the salt with the higher price will most likely be processed in a way to filter microplastics. Based on my results, my hypothesis was rejected. The highest priced salt, Morton sea salt costs 43 cents per ounce and had the highest amount of microplastics and anthropogenic particles. The second cheapest salt, 365 sea salt costs 6 cents per ounce and had the lowest amount of microplastics and anthropogenic particles. I concluded that sea salts of any quality or price point have a presence of microplastics.
