Microplastics in Sparkling Water: LaCroix, Bubly & Spindrift Ranked (2026)

MicroPlastics Research DeskEditorial team

July 29, 2026

10 min read

Last reviewed: October 18, 2026 by the MicroPlastics Research Desk. Submit a correction or see our editorial standards.

Quick answer

Yes, and the container matters more here than it does for still water. No brand publishes microplastic testing on its sparkling water, so the honest ranking is by packaging. The mechanism that makes carbonated drinks different is pressure and agitation: dissolved CO₂ keeps a bottle under constant internal pressure, and every shake, drop, and temperature swing works that pressure against the container wall. Mechanical stress is an established driver of particle release from plastic bottles, which means a PET bottle of sparkling water is a worse choice than a PET bottle of still water. Aluminum cans sidestep the shedding problem but introduce a thin internal polymer liner and its bisphenol questions. Glass has no plastic body, but glass is not automatically the clean choice: in a 2025 study by ANSES, France's food-safety agency, soft drinks in glass bottles with painted metal caps carried about 100 microplastics per litre, 5 to 50 times more than in plastic bottles or cans, because the cap paint was scratched.

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Cans and bottles of sparkling water on a kitchen counter

Key Takeaways

No sparkling water brand has published a particle count, so treat any specific number you see as invented. Packaging is the axis you can actually reason about.
Carbonation adds constant internal pressure, and mechanical stress is a documented driver of microplastic release from plastic bottles. Fizzy in PET is worse than still in PET.
Cans avoid bottle shedding but have an epoxy or acrylic inner liner, so they trade a microplastics question for a bisphenol one.
Glass is not automatically clean. ANSES (2025) found capped glass soft drinks carried the most particles of the formats it tested, from scratched cap paint. A glass body tells you nothing about the cap.
Heat is the multiplier for every plastic format. A case of seltzer stored in a hot garage or car boot is the worst-case scenario.

Why carbonation changes the answer

Most of what you read about microplastics in bottled water is about still water, and the headline finding there is already substantial: a 2024 study using stimulated Raman scattering microscopy counted roughly 240,000 detectable plastic particles per litre on average across three unnamed US bottled waters, the large majority of them nanoplastics small enough that earlier methods missed them entirely. That figure belongs to those three samples, not to any named brand or to sparkling water.

Carbonated water sits on top of that baseline with an extra mechanism. Dissolved CO₂ means the container is permanently pressurised from the inside. Separate research on plastic bottles has shown that mechanical stress, squeezing, shaking, repeated opening, and temperature cycling, measurably increases particle release from the bottle wall. Carbonation supplies that stress continuously rather than occasionally, and a warm bottle raises the internal pressure further.

This is why the usual advice to “just buy the big plastic bottle and decant” works less well for seltzer than for still water. It is also why the can-versus-bottle decision is worth more here than almost anywhere else in the drinks aisle.

The three formats, honestly

Glass (no plastic body, but check the cap). The bottle itself is not a polymer. The cap is the question: in the 2025 ANSES study, cola, lemonade, iced tea and beer in glass bottles averaged about 100 microplastics per litre, 5 to 50 times more than in plastic bottles or cans, and the particles matched the paint on the metal caps. Still water in glass was much lower (about 4.5 per litre, against 1.6 in plastic), and ANSES did not single out sparkling water. So glass removes the PET wall, but it does not make the question go away.
Aluminum can (good, with an asterisk). Aluminum cannot shed microplastics, so the PET problem disappears. But every food-grade can has a thin internal epoxy or acrylic liner to stop the metal reacting with the contents, and that liner is where bisphenol questions live. Most major brands have moved to BPA-NI (“non-intent”) liners, which means BPA is not deliberately used, not that the liner is inert. See are cans lined with plastic for the full picture.
PET plastic bottle (worst). You get the still-water baseline plus the carbonation stress on top, plus whatever the bottle picked up from warehouse heat and shelf time. Large multi-serve PET bottles are the worst case because they are opened and resealed repeatedly, each cycle adding another pressure swing.

Sparkling water brands ranked by packaging

Major sparkling water brands through a plastics lens. Ranked on packaging, not on a particle count, because no brand publishes one.
Brand	Usual packaging	Main plastic driver	Verdict
Topo Chico	Glass bottle (also cans)	Metal cap and its liner	No plastic body; capped glass was highest for soft drinks in ANSES 2025
Perrier	Glass bottle, can, or PET	Depends on format	Each format has a plastic surface; no brand test
San Pellegrino	Glass bottle, can, or PET	Depends on format	Each format has a plastic surface; no brand test
Spindrift	Aluminum can	Can liner	Strong. Real fruit, no plastic bottle
Waterloo	Aluminum can	Can liner	Strong. Can-only line-up
LaCroix	Aluminum can	Can liner	Strong. Can-only line-up
Bubly	Aluminum can	Can liner	Strong. Can-only line-up
Liquid Death (sparkling)	Aluminum can	Can liner	Strong, same logic as the still version
Store-brand seltzer	Usually PET bottle	Bottle shedding + carbonation stress	Weakest common option
Home carbonator (SodaStream etc.)	Reusable PET or glass carafe	Carafe material, your choice	No single-use packaging; a glass carafe avoids a reused PET wall

No brand publishes a particle count, so this is a packaging comparison, not a measured ranking. The flavour house you prefer matters less than the container, but no container is plastic-free: cans have a liner, PET is plastic, and glass usually has a metal cap that ANSES found to be a major source.

The home-carbonation option

If you drink sparkling water daily, carbonating filtered water at home is the single biggest reduction available, because it removes both the warehouse heat and the shelf time. Two caveats worth knowing:

Choose the glass carafe. Most home carbonators ship with a reusable PET bottle by default, and a reusable pressurised PET bottle that gets washed, refilled and re-pressurised hundreds of times is exactly the mechanical-stress scenario the research describes. Glass carafe versions are widely available.
Filter first. Carbonating tap water carbonates whatever is already in it. A filter that is actually rated for particle reduction does the useful work here, see water filters compared.

Practical rules that actually move the number

Don't assume glass is cleanest. Capped glass was the highest format for soft drinks in the ANSES study. Cans and PET each have their own plastic surface; there is no measured ranking of the three for sparkling water.
Never store it warm. Heat raises both plastic shedding and internal pressure. A case in a hot garage, car boot, or sunny porch is the worst thing you can do to it.
Skip the big resealable PET bottles. Repeated opening and resealing means repeated pressure cycling on the same wall.
Don't freeze or shake PET. Both are mechanical stress, and a shaken carbonated bottle is under far more load than a still one.
If you buy cans, that is a genuinely good choice, just know you have swapped a shedding question for a liner question rather than eliminating both.

What the MicroPlastics app checks

The container material of the exact sparkling water you buy, read off the label, including which brands sell the same product in glass.
A 0–100 risk score that weighs packaging, carbonation, and format together rather than treating all bottled water alike.
A lower-plastic swap in the same flavour category, usually a canned or glass version of something you already drink.
Your running drinks profile, so a daily seltzer habit shows up as a pattern instead of a one-off scan.

Use the App

Scan the seltzer you actually buy

Glass, can, or PET changes the answer more than the brand on the label does. Scan your usual sparkling water with MicroPlastics for a 0–100 score and the lowest-plastic version of the same drink.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does sparkling water have more microplastics than still water?

In the same plastic bottle, very likely yes. Dissolved CO2 keeps the container under constant internal pressure, and mechanical stress is an established driver of particle release from plastic bottles. Carbonation supplies that stress continuously. Cans and glass bottles have no PET wall, but cans have a liner and glass bottles usually have a metal cap, which ANSES (2025) found was a major particle source in capped glass soft drinks.

Is LaCroix or Bubly better for microplastics?

There is no meaningful difference between them. Both are sold almost exclusively in aluminum cans, so both avoid the plastic-bottle shedding problem and both carry the same internal can-liner question. Neither publishes microplastic testing. Choose on flavour. Switching to a glass-bottled brand is not a proven upgrade: in a 2025 ANSES study, soft drinks in glass bottles with painted metal caps carried the most microplastics.

Are aluminum cans actually free of plastic?

No. Every food-grade aluminum can has a thin internal polymer liner, usually epoxy or acrylic, to stop the metal reacting with the contents. It is a very thin layer and it does not shed microplastics the way a PET bottle does, but it is the reason a can is not a zero-plastic container. Most large brands now use BPA-NI liners, which means BPA is not intentionally added.

Is glass-bottled sparkling water the cleanest?

Not necessarily. Glass has no plastic body, but most glass bottles have a painted metal cap. In a 2025 ANSES study, cola, lemonade, iced tea and beer in glass bottles averaged about 100 microplastics per litre, 5 to 50 times more than in plastic bottles or cans, traced to scratched cap paint. Still water in glass was much lower. No sparkling water brand has published its own particle test.

Does a SodaStream reduce microplastics?

It can, substantially, but only if you use the glass carafe and filter the water first. The default reusable PET bottle gets washed, refilled and re-pressurised repeatedly, which is precisely the mechanical-stress cycle that increases particle release. With a glass carafe and filtered water it is the lowest-plastic way to drink sparkling water daily.

Does leaving seltzer in a hot car make it worse?

Yes, and more so than for still water. Heat independently increases microplastic release from plastic, and it also raises the internal pressure of a carbonated container, adding mechanical load on top. Cans are far less affected than PET bottles, but no plastic-containing format benefits from being stored warm.

Sources

Qian N, Gao X, Lang X, et al. (2024). Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
ANSES (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety) (2025). The caps of glass bottles contaminate beverages with microplastics (about 100 particles/L in capped glass soft drinks and beer, 5–50x plastic bottles and cans; water 4.5/L glass vs 1.6/L plastic). ANSES news, June 20, 2025; study in Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.
Winkler A, Santo N, Ortenzi MA, et al. (2022). Does mechanical stress cause microplastic release from plastic water bottles?. Water Research.
Kosuth M, Mason SA, Wattenberg EV (2018). Anthropogenic contamination of tap water, beer, and sea salt. PLOS ONE.

Your next product question

Start with the sparkling-water format in your fridge.

Identify the can, plastic bottle or glass format, including its closure or lining where disclosed. The format does not provide a measured count for the drink.

Research examples:LaCroix, Bubly, Spindrift, Waterloo, Topo Chico, Perrier

iOS and Android · current terms in each store

Use the exact product name, model and label to check the information behind an assessment. A photo does not measure particles or personal health risk. The examples above are research subjects, not a verified app-coverage list.

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Recorded interface example. On-screen scores, exposure labels and suggested swaps are modeled outputs, not particle measurements, personal exposure or evidence of a health benefit.

Go deeper

Less-travelled research from our archive that follows directly from this page.

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