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Brisbane, January 17, 2026 – Your morning coffee coudl be coming with a side of microplastics. A new study reveals that hot beverages in plastic cups-even those with plastic linings-can leach thousands of microscopic plastic particles into your drink, and the hotter the liquid, the more plastic you may be consuming.
Is Your Daily Brew a Plastic Cocktail?
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Researchers found that heat considerably increases the release of microplastics from common disposable coffee cups.
- Globally, an estimated 500 billion disposable coffee cups are used annually.
- Heat is the primary driver of microplastic release from plastic cups.
- Plastic-lined paper cups release fewer microplastics than all-plastic cups, but neither is entirely risk-free.
- Switching from a cold to a hot beverage in a plastic cup can increase microplastic release by 33 percent.
What if that comforting caffeine boost was also delivering a dose of potentially harmful plastic? That’s the question driving new research published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials: Plastics. The study,co-authored by Xiangyu Liu of Griffith University,investigated how different types of disposable coffee cups behave when exposed to varying temperatures.
Q: How many microplastics could I be ingesting from a single cup of coffee?
A: Depending on the cup material, a daily coffee drinker consuming 300 milliliters of coffee could ingest up to 363,000 microplastic particles each year.
What Are Microplastics, Anyway?
Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments ranging from 1 micrometer to 5 millimeters in size-roughly the size of a speck of dust to a sesame seed. They originate from the breakdown of larger plastic items or are released directly from products during use. These particles contaminate our environment, enter the food chain, and ultimately, end up inside our bodies.
While scientists are still working to understand the long-term health effects of microplastic exposure, and accurately measuring levels in human tissue remains challenging due to contamination concerns, awareness of potential sources is crucial. Currently, conclusive evidence regarding the extent of microplastic retention within the human body is still lacking.
Temperature: The Key factor
Researchers first conducted a meta-analysis-a statistical review of 30 existing peer-reviewed studies-to assess how common plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene respond to different conditions. Temperature emerged as the most notable factor influencing microplastic release. As liquid temperature increases, so dose the release of microplastics, ranging from a few hundred to over 8 million particles per liter, depending on the plastic type and study methodology.
Interestingly, the duration a drink sits in the cup didn’t consistently affect microplastic release.This suggests that the initial temperature of the liquid is more critical than how long it remains in
Yes, temperature is a key factor. Higher temperatures lead to increased microplastic release from plastic cups.
Yes, research suggests that plastic-lined paper cups generally
