why are people more concerned about microplastics than regular plastic, doesn’t regular plastic also break down into smaller and smaller pieces?

Question

Like when people are worried about the microplastics in toothpaste, but not the plastic tube it comes in. Isn’t that tube going to break down into way more microplastics than the toothpaste itself contains?

In: Other

Answer 1

People are also generally concerned with plastic use and where it comes from. So it’s not like we only care about microplastics.

However, it’s much easier to deal with a tube you can see with your eyes than with microplastics you cannot see. So microplastics in toothpaste will end up directly in the water whereas a plastic tube will end up in disposal somewhere. It could still end up in the ocean, but it’s hardly guaranteed.