How to test your water for microplastics at home.

Grab a clean glass — mason jar, drinking glass, anything that isn't plastic. Fill it with ~100 mL of the water you want to test. The kit includes two complete tests so you can compare two sources side-by-side (tap vs. filtered is the most common).

Pour the pre-measured digestion vial into your sample and swirl gently. This breaks down algae, biofilms, and other organic gunk that would otherwise confuse the stain. Set a timer for 30 minutes.

Add the pre-measured Nile Red stain. It binds only to plastic-like (hydrophobic) particles — it physically cannot stick to minerals or dissolved salts. Swirl and wait 30 minutes for the dye to fully bind.

Screw the filter cap onto the end of the syringe. Pull your stained sample into the syringe, then push it through the filter. Every plastic particle the dye attached to gets trapped on the filter membrane while the water passes through.

Place the filter under the blue LED and look through the orange viewing lens. Microplastics glow bright pink against the filter — you'll see them immediately with your own eyes. No microscope. No lab.

Use the included phone clip to line up a clean shot of the filter under the blue light. Upload the photo and we'll count the particles, size them, and send back your report with a severity rating and how you compare to other homes.

Run the same flow on your second sample — filtered water, a different tap, bottled, whatever you want to compare. Side-by-side is where the test gets interesting. If your filter is working, the difference is obvious.