Question on micro-plastics.

I was just pondering about bringing back a couple of buckets full of sea water on my next visit tot he coast and evaporating it for sea salt... just an experiment for fun. But, how might I be able to filter out or remove any micro-plastics, while retaining all the good minerals and flavors? Maybe on a larger scale, the way the do fleur de sel in France could help... maybe the algae/water plants and such could make a difference. I really don't know - never thought about this stuff before. What are y'all's thoughts (I love typing y'all's btw... no way auto correct will recognize that one!)

Wj Carroll wrote: I was just pondering about bringing back a couple of buckets full of sea water on my next visit tot he coast and evaporating it for sea salt... just an experiment for fun. But, how might I be able to filter out or remove any micro-plastics, while retaining all the good minerals and flavors? Maybe on a larger scale, the way the do fleur de sel in France could help... maybe the algae/water plants and such could make a difference. I really don't know - never thought about this stuff before. What are y'alls' thoughts (I love typing y'alls' btw... no way auto correct will recognize that one!)

LOL! I love it. But that would be "y'all's" (says this Southern gal editor/publisher). Glad you got the "y'all" right...I just cringe when I see "ya'll." (And, yes, dear Northerners, "y'all's" is really a grammatically correct construction in the Southern dialect: e.g., "I plan to go to y'all's party next week. I'm gone bring some single-malt Scotch.")

Sorry, I have no clue how to answer your question!

Diane Kistner wrote:

Wj Carroll wrote: I was just pondering about bringing back a couple of buckets full of sea water on my next visit tot he coast and evaporating it for sea salt... just an experiment for fun. But, how might I be able to filter out or remove any micro-plastics, while retaining all the good minerals and flavors? Maybe on a larger scale, the way the do fleur de sel in France could help... maybe the algae/water plants and such could make a difference. I really don't know - never thought about this stuff before. What are y'alls' thoughts (I love typing y'alls' btw... no way auto correct will recognize that one!)

LOL! I love it. But that would be "y'all's" (says this Southern gal editor/publisher). Glad you got the "y'all" right...I just cringe when I see "ya'll." (And, yes, dear Northerners, "y'all's" is really a grammatically correct construction in the Southern dialect: e.g., "I plan to go to y'all's party next week. I'm gone bring some single-malt Scotch.")

Sorry, I have no clue how to answer your question!

You are absolutely right!  So right, in fact that being a magazine editor/publisher by trade, I am ashamed... I'll change it!

Microplastics are problematic. You can use a fine sand filter complete with an activated charcoal layer and you might still find microplastics.

I can virtually guarantee that if they're in there, you'll have a hell of a time separating them out in any meaningful way.

For sea salt, I'd give it a pass.

If you were using the sea water to amend the minerals in your soil, I would first mulch and encourage soil life to thrive, and then I would add oyster mushroom slurry. I would reapply monthly, and after you get some idea that they've established, it should be safe to apply. The oyster mushrooms should break down the microplastics into constituent molecules and trace elements and spread them to where they're actually useful.

-CK

My thought is that since microplastics are now everywhere, including in the groundwater and in public drinking water supplies, it's not clear to me that consuming seawater (and salt derived therefrom) adds measurably to my risk.   If there are microplastics at varying levels in all of the roughly ten pounds of food and fluids that I'm ingesting on the average day, I can't see how eating, or not, a gram or two of salt that also has microplastics in it, is a consequential decision on my part.

here again were back into the current state of our planet, I'm no expert, but from what I've read there is no way to effectively get micro plastics out of water, its the sad reality of our current condition. its like trying to get chemical pollutants out of our water and air.
the planet will survive, people may not

it would probably make more sense to bring back a couple buckets of shell for some chickens to enjoy

Wj Carroll wrote:

You are absolutely right!  So right, in fact that being a magazine editor/publisher by trade, I am ashamed... I'll change it!

Well, then, you know how OCD editors are. Really, it's a curse.... But editing is such a hard job, I think we all can be forgiven for our occasional brain farts! I certainly have plenty of my own....

Diane, I agree and know what you mean.... can you imagine me doing this job, being mildly dyslexic?!!  I am, and I do though... even basic math is a struggle because I invert numbers.  With words, I've developed the ability to recognize things that just don't look right.  When I used to write for newspapers, magazines and such, I was an absolute tyrant with my own work... my motto was, "Cut at least one word from every sentence, cut out every unnecessary comma, cut at least one sentence from every paragraph, cut at least one paragraph and hit the low end of 500-750 words."