Microplastics
Microplastics are "synthetic solid particles or polymeric matrices, with regular or irregular shape and with size ranging from 1 μm to 5 mm, of either primary or secondary manufacturing origin, which are insoluble in water."
Microplastics cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a variety of sources, including cosmetics, clothing, construction, renovation, food packaging, and industrial processes.
The term microplastics is used to differentiate them from larger, non-microscopic plastic waste. Two classifications of microplastics are currently recognized. Primary microplastics include any plastic fragments or particles that are already 5.0 mm in size or less before entering the environment. These include microfibers from clothing, microbeads, plastic glitter and plastic pellets (also known as nurdles). Secondary microplastics arise from the degradation (breakdown) of larger plastic products through natural weathering processes after entering the environment. Such sources of secondary microplastics include water and soda bottles, fishing nets, plastic bags, microwave containers, tea bags and tire wear.
Both types are recognized to persist in the environment at high levels, particularly in aquatic and marine ecosystems, where they are considered water pollution.
Approximately 35% of all ocean microplastics come from textiles or clothing, primarily due to the erosion of polyester, acrylic, or nylon-based clothing, often during the washing process. Microplastics also accumulate in the air and terrestrial ecosystems. Airborne microplastics have been detected in the atmosphere, as well as indoors and outdoors.
Because some plastics degrade slowly (often over hundreds to thousands of years), microplastics have a high probability of ingestion, incorporation into, and accumulation in the bodies and tissues of many organisms. In terrestrial ecosystems, microplastics have been demonstrated to lower the viability of soil ecosystems.
Microplastics are likely to degrade into smaller nanoplastics through chemical weathering processes, mechanical breakdown, and even through the digestive processes of animals. Nanoplastics are a subset of microplastics and are smaller than 1 μm (1 micrometer, or 1000 nm). Nanoplastics cannot be seen by the human eye.
Annalise
- 2023-11-23T00:00:00.000000Z
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