Water Knowledge

Less is more - that is our most important cleaning tip. This also applies to the use of cleaning agents:

• Does your cleaning agents sparingly. In this way you reduce the impact on the environment and your household budget.
• Limescale does not need aggressive chemicals. Vinegar or citric acid do the job in a far more environmentally friendly way. It is not always necessary to immediately reach for special cleaners to deal with other stains. A brilliant shine can also be achieved with an all-purpose cleaner, washing-up liquid or a scouring cream cleanser.
• Sanitary cleaners for the WC are particularly aggressive. They are mostly superfluous. A simple all-purpose cleaner and a toilet brush remove the dirt just as well and are also more environmentally friendly.

Allow germs - disinfectant sprays and hygiene products tackle any germs. Allegedly. Yet the concentration and exposure time are hardly long enough to actually kill each and every pathogen. They really harm the environment and us. This is because: if the weaker pathogens are killed, the stronger ones are able to prevail more and cause harm. Moreover, our body’s own defences are challenged increasingly less. The consequence: Only a few pathogens are needed to make us ill.

Our recommendation: If you do not want to entirely do without a disinfecting effect, use white spirits, i.e. alcohol.

• Liquid detergents pollute wastewater treatment plants and bodies of water more than compact powder due to their higher surfactant content.
• Opt for modular systems or compact and super compact detergents in the tandem system. You achieve good washing results with them and avoid polluting the environment with superfluous chemicals.
• Dose your detergent according to the water hardness (Berlin’s water is “hard”) . The information provided by the detergent manufacturer help you to do this.
• By washing at low temperatures you spare the environment and reduce your energy consumption. 30 °C is sufficient. 60 °C is hot enough for bedding, hand towels or baby linen.
• Fabric conditioner or softener is particularly water polluting. Fabric conditioners are not required for the actual cleaning process. If you don’t want to do without it, dose fabric conditioner as sparingly as possible.
• Fill your washing drum optimally.

• Do not throw away hygiene products, in particular cotton buds and moist baby wipes, cigarettes or medicines in the toilet. Only the rats are pleased about leftover food in the sewers.
• Do without too much foam and shampoo when bathing or showering. They pollute the water.
• Please do not use shower gels, peeling products, toothpaste, make-up, or suntan cream to which fine spherical plastic granulate, so-called microplastic, nanoplastic or microbeads, is added as an abrasive substance.

We abstract our drinking water from deep groundwater layers. Water that percolates there passes through at least 30 metre thick soil layers over months and years. This natural and gigantic filter layer is impenetrable for undissolved substances such as microplastic particles, bacteria and viruses. The drinking water is therefore free from microplastics.

Microplastics occur in rivers and lakes, i.e. in surface waters. Larger plastic objects such as bags are gradually mechanically ground in the waters. The plastic is not degraded, it is only broken up into ever smaller particles. In cities, around one third of the microplastics detected come from tyre wear particles, which are flushed into our waters by surface water. When sports and functional clothing made of synthetic fibres is washed, minute particles can also detach from the clothing, which are not filtered out in the wastewater treatment plant and so get back into nature.

There is no precise definition of the term microplastics. Scientists name particles that are larger than 5 mm macro-(large)-plastic. Mesoplastic (medium) is the name given to particles with a size between 0.1 and 5 mm. Plastic particles that are between 0.1 and 100 μm in size are named microplastics. Microplastic particles between one millionth and one tenth of a millimetre are therefore tiny and cannot be detected by the human eye. However, plastic particles can be even smaller. Microplastic particles are limited downwards by the definition of nanoparticles (nano = one billionth (109), namely within a size range between 1 and 100 nm. One centimetre has 10 million nanometres.

Microplastics are formed in two different ways. So-called “primary microplastics” are produced directly by industry. The granulate – also named pellets – is used for the manufacture of plastic products. It also exists in a smaller form as cheap filler or for cleaning effects in shower gels, peelings, shampoos or toothpaste as well as cleaning agents.

“Secondary microplastics” Are formed when large plastic parts increasingly decompose. This occurs, for example, when plastic waste gets into the environment where they increasingly decompose due to the sun, friction and weather effects. Plastic fibres that detach from textiles when they are washed or tyre wear particles when a car is driven are named secondary microplastics.

We are currently actively involved in several research projects with the Technische Universität Berlin and other partners. In the Microplastics in the Water Cycle research project (MiWa – Mikroplastik im Wasserkreislauf) – that researches whether and what effect the use of plastics has on humans and the environment. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Forschung und Entwicklung). To this end, an initial clear and comprehensive balance and assessment of microplastics in the water cycle – comparable with the organic trace substances – is to be drawn up. This assessment will be based on standardised analytical methods and thus supply reliable data on the occurrence of microplastics in the water cycle. Within the scope of the project we are operating a pile fabric filter as a test system in Ruhleben and examine the extent to which it is suitable for removing microplastics compared to other further wastewater treatment processes.

In another research project, tyre wear particles in surface water are being examined. To this end, tests took place in Tegel surface water treatment plant, to measure microplastics in the inlet of the north ditch.

Information on the topic of microplastics can be found in diverse purchase guides and brochures. The  Plastic Atlas of the Heinrch Böll Foundation (Plastikatlas der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung) contains facts and figures on the topic of plastic. The BUND Shopping Guide, (BUND-Einkaufsgeber) produced by Friends of the Earth Germany lists products whose ingredients contain one or several of the described plastics. Another source of support is the CodeCheck app, with which you can receive information on the ingredients of products by scanning individual barcodes. We have set a ling to the app for you at the bottom of the page.

We have put together a list of common plastics for you. A look at the ingredients of the products reveals whether they contain a plastic.

Plastics in cosmetic and care products