Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
IsThis

HEALTH

The Claim

Researchers estimate that the average person ingests about 5 grams of plastic per week, which is approximately the weight of a credit card.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The evidence does not show that the average person ingests about 5 grams of plastic per week. The original research estimated a wide range, with 5 grams as an upper-end figure, not the average, and later reviews indicate typical estimates are lower. The “credit card a week” line is a simplified advocacy/media framing that overstates the current scientific picture.

Caveats

  • The claim turns the upper end of a modeled range into an average, which changes the core takeaway.
  • The “credit card” analogy was amplified by advocacy and media communications, not established as a scientific consensus.
  • More recent reviews report lower typical ingestion estimates and criticize the older 5 g/week framing as outdated or overstated.

The Receipts

  1. Estimation of the mass of microplastics ingested - A pivotal first step towards human health risk assessment

    PubMed

  2. Estimation of the mass of microplastics ingested – A pivotal first step towards human health risk assessment

    Journal of Hazardous Materials

  3. Microplastics in the human body: A comprehensive review

    PubMed Central

  4. Microplastics in the food chain: A review

    PubMed

  5. You do not inhale a credit card's worth of microplastic every week

    Full Fact

  6. People may be ingesting 'credit card's worth' of plastic each week

    The Irish Times

  7. Plastic Ingestion by Humans Could be Equating to a Credit Card a Week

    WWF Philippines

  8. Revealed: plastic ingestion by people could be equating to a credit card a week

    WWF Australia

  9. Most people are not eating a credit card of microplastics a week

    YouTube - VERIFY

  10. Mythbusters fact credit card

    Coastal Pollution Toolbox

+ 1 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Microplastics

More Fact Checks