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Every week, the average person ingests around five grams of plastic — roughly the weight of a credit card. It arrives in our drinking water, settles on food from the air, migrates from packaging, and sheds from the synthetic clothing we wear against our skin. What was once a distant environmental concern is now a deeply personal health issue — and emerging science suggests women face particular risks.

This article draws on the latest research to explain what plastics and microplastics actually do inside the body, why the female hormonal system is especially vulnerable, what this means for women navigating everything from irregular cycles to IVF — and what practical steps you can take right now, wherever you are in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Scale of the Problem

Plastic production has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and it's expected to increase by a further 70% by 2040. As production rises, so does the quantity of microscopic fragments shed, broken off, and dispersed into the air, water, and food we depend on daily.

Microplastics are defined as plastic particles smaller than 5mm. They form when larger plastic items — bottles, bags, packaging, synthetic clothing — break down over time. Below 1 micrometre, they're called nanoplastics. These particles are now found in virtually every environment on Earth: from the peak of Everest to the depths of the Mariana Trench, and from urban streams in Auckland to the remote beaches of the Coromandel.

Here in Aotearoa, a five-year national research programme called AIM² (Aotearoa Impacts and Mitigation of Microplastics), led by PHF Science (formerly ESR) and funded by MBIE, confirmed that microplastics are widespread across New Zealand's coastal, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Urban waterways were identified as major transport routes, with synthetic textile fibres — shed from everyday washing — making up a large proportion of the pollution.

A University of Canterbury and PHF Science study published in January 2025 found between 1,100 and 2,700 microplastic particles per kilogram of organic waste and compost applied to NZ agricultural land — originating from food packaging, health and beauty products, synthetic textiles, and household goods. That plastic is working its way into the soil, into crops, and onto your dinner plate.

Inside the human body, the picture is equally stark. Levels of microplastics in tissues like the brain and liver have measurably increased when comparing people who died in 2016 versus those who died in 2024, according to research highlighted in JAMA. Studies of placentas over time found microplastic particles in 60% of samples in 2006, 90% in 2013, and fully 100% of participants in a 2021 study.

What Are Endocrine Disruptors?

Plastics are not inert. They contain hundreds of chemical additives — including plasticisers, stabilisers, and flame retardants — many of which are known or suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The two most studied are bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates.

Why Women Are Especially at Risk

The female reproductive system is, by design, highly hormonally sensitive. The orchestrated interplay of oestrogen, progesterone, LH, and FSH that governs the menstrual cycle, ovulation, and implantation is precisely the kind of finely tuned signalling that EDCs interfere with most.

The Biggest Sources of Exposure

Practical Steps to Reduce Your Exposure

You cannot eliminate plastic exposure entirely — it's now embedded in the global environment. But the science is clear enough that experts, including the authors of a 2025 FIGO committee opinion, recommend practical environmental risk reduction as part of reproductive and gynaecological care. The goal is meaningful reduction, not perfection.

The New Zealand Context

New Zealand women face the same global plastic burden as everyone else, but there are local factors worth considering. Our seafood consumption — whether it's fresh snapper from the Hauraki Gulf, green-lipped mussels from the Marlborough Sounds, or pāua from the South Island coast — may carry some microplastic load, given the confirmed presence of microplastics across NZ coastal and marine environments documented by AIM². This doesn't mean avoiding seafood, which remains nutritionally valuable, but being mindful of sourcing and preparation.

The good news is that New Zealand's regulatory environment is moving in the right direction. Microbeads were banned in rinse-off cosmetics. Single-use plastic bags, produce bags, straws, and certain tableware have been phased out since 2023. Consumer awareness is high. And the increasing availability of plastic-free alternatives — from refill stores in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, to expanded glass and paper packaging options at major supermarkets — makes meaningful reduction more achievable than ever.

Reducing exposure is not about anxiety — it's about informed, practical choices that compound over time.

— Sarah, VelaOra

The Bottom Line

The science on microplastics and endocrine disruptors is moving fast — and what it is telling us, consistently and increasingly, is that these exposures matter. They matter most during windows of particular hormonal sensitivity: puberty, reproductive years, pregnancy, and perimenopause. They are implicated in conditions — PCOS, endometriosis, thyroid dysfunction, fertility challenges — that affect a significant proportion of New Zealand women.

You don't need to overhaul your life overnight. Start with your kitchen. Swap plastic storage containers for glass. Stop heating food in plastic. Carry a reusable cup and water bottle. Read ingredient labels and choose fragrance-free personal care products. These are small, affordable, evidence-based steps that, taken together, can meaningfully reduce your daily chemical exposure.

Your hormones are doing extraordinary work. The least we can do is stop putting unnecessary obstacles in their way.