Microplastic Pollution is “Absolutely Everywhere”

What Exactly Is The Problem With Microplastic Pollution? Where Does It Come  From? What Can We Do About It?

New studies show that microplastics – plastic that has broken down into small particles – are all over the planet. We kind of knew that already – but scientists say they are shocked by the quantity of microplastic, and also, that it’s literally everywhere.

It’s in groundwater in the US, it’s in the beautiful lakes of the UK (including famed Loch Lomond), it’s in the Yangtze River in China, along the Spanish coast – and everywhere else.

What’s the Problem With Microplastics?

1. Firstly, marine life and birds often mistake the brightly-coloured particles for food. Of course there’s no nourishment in it, but also, It doesn’t take much to kill them.
2. A recent UK survey found microplastic inside every marine mammal studied.
3. In 2017, microplastics were found in tap water around the world
4. And we eat microplastics too. Either via tap water, or through the food we eat having eaten microplastics.
5. As if that wasn’t bad enough, research by the National University of Singapore found more than 400 types of bacteria on 275 pieces of microplastic collected from local beaches. They included bugs that cause gastroenteritis and wound infections in humans, as well as those linked to the bleaching of coral reefs.

Where Do Microplastics Come From?

There are lots of ways that plastic breaks down into microplastic.

• Microplastics are shed by synthetic clothing and vehicle tyres
• Manufacturers use plastic pellets in many consumer products, and there are spills and waste.
• Plastic litter is everywhere and it breaks down.
• Rain washes plastic into rivers and the sea, and it can also be blown by the wind.
• Plastic can end up in fields when treated sewage waste is used as fertiliser.

The Longer-term Problem

We know we’re all eating and drinking microplastic. But we don’t know what the dangers are – yet.

We’ve only just become aware of the scale of the problem, and there are no long-term studies that reveal the dangers. But for sure, it can’t be doing us any good. Plastic, after all, is made from petroleum, which is highly toxic.

As one scientist said:

“It’s no use looking back in 20 years time and saying: ‘If only we’d realised just how bad it was.’ We need to be monitoring our waters now and we need to think, as a country and a world, how we can be reducing our reliance on plastic.”

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Warm regards,

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