Written by: Erin Yoo

The world has gone plastic. By 2050, experts predict that 12 billion metric tons of plastic will have been thrown away. After all, from 1950 to 2015, over 6 billion tons of plastic have been produced, of which about 80% currently sits in landfills and the environment (Rogers, 2020). However, there’s more to plastic pollution than the large plastic bottles and grocery bags that litter the ground and oceans. In fact, a nearly invisible plastic has invaded every day human and animal life: microplastics.

Figure 1

Image of a landfill.

Source: Whyy

An Overview of Microplastics

Microplastics are defined as plastic particles whose diameter is smaller than five millimeters or 0.2 inches (National Geographic Society, 2019; Weizmann Institute of Science, 2020). They’re typically composed of hydrogen and carbon arranged in polymer strands, often containing toxic chemicals like phthalates and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (Rogers, 2020). These chemicals, coupled with the fact that they are not biodegradable, are the reason that microplastics are a real cause for concern (Rogers, 2020). Since they virtually never break down, once they enter ecosystems, they do not leave—in fact, they actually accumulate in large numbers (Rogers, 2020). Moreover, fish and birds often consume microplastics by mistaking them for food. Since those microplastics are not digestible, they move up the food chain and into human bodies (Rogers, 2020; Weizmann Institute of Science, 2020).

Figure 2

Image of microplastics; note their tiny size.

Source: Source Magazine

Microplastics are further defined into two different groups: primary and secondary microplastics. Whereas primary microplastics come from particles used for commercial purposes like cosmetics and clothing and enter the environment through various human activities like product use and spills, secondary microplastics are just larger plastic items that have been broken down due to ultraviolet radiation, ocean turbulence, and or other environmental factors (National Geographic Society, 2019; Rogers 2020). Oftentimes, secondary microplastics come from plastics that are meant to be used only once, like plastic straws (National Geographic Society, 2019). Another significant category of primary microplastics are microbeads, which first appeared fifty years ago as exfoliants in beauty products and in textiles like nylon. Due to their exceedingly harmful effects on the environment and specifically marine ecosystems, these were banned in the United States around six years ago under the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 (NOAA, 2020; Rogers, 2020).

The Increasing Prominence of Microplastics and Its Effects

Studies show that microplastics are spreading into alarming aspects of everyday human life from drinking water, to table salt, to beer. Part of the reason for this is that the tiny particles are too small to be detected by water filtration and treatment systems (NOAA, 2020). Miniscule plastic particles have also been found in tissues in people, though the full consequences of this are not yet known (Rogers, 2020). In animals, the situation is just as serious: By 2018, over 114 marine and freshwater species were found to have microplastics within their digestive systems and other tissues (Rogers, 2020). The consumption of plastic also causes these organisms to intake less of their actual diet. As a result, they have less energy to execute vital biological processes which creates health problems (Rogers, 2020). Plus, microplastics often combine with other harmful chemicals before entering organisms (National Geographic Society, 2019).

Additionally, although microplastics are well known to affect marine environments the most, they also affect the atmosphere by being found in dust and other air particles. This means microplastics find their way into humans not just through the food chain but through inhalation* (Rogers, 2020). This spread of microplastics from oceans to the atmosphere, known as aerosolization, can be attributed to wind. Moreover, microplastics can stay in the air anywhere from a matter of hours to a number of days. According to a 2016 study that studied aerosol samples, plastic from above the northern Atlantic Ocean came from plastic bags and waste from shores hundreds of kilometers away (Weizmann Institute of Science, 2020). This supports the idea that microplastics are carried by winds into the atmosphere after initially resting in bubbles on the ocean surface. Then, it is hypothesized that the particles travel to other remote parts of the ocean (Weizmann Institute of Science, 2020).

But why is this dangerous? In the atmosphere, microplastics usually dry up and then react with UV light and other atmospheric chemicals. This means that they become more toxic and harmful to marine life when they fall back into the ocean. They can also house bacteria, transporting diseases to marine life and humans (Weizmann Institute of Science, 2020). 

*Again, note that the full effects of microplastics on human health are unclear, though it is reasonable to believe that they would be problematic and damaging.

Conclusion

It’s clear that this plastic problem, including and especially the microplastic problem, needs to be addressed. Besides the ban on microbeads in 2015 in the U.S. under the Obama administration, several other countries have also prohibited the production of microbeads including Taiwan, South Korea, Canada, and the UK (National Geographic Society, 2017; Witts, 2018). The United Nations Expert Panel of the United Nations Environmental Programme organization has also built campaigns across one hundred countries to educate the public on the dangers of microplastics and plastics in general. For the plastic that’s already been thrown away, scientists are studying bacteria and fungi that could potentially break down microplastics, effectively solving many of the problems we face (Rogers, 2020). With these solutions, perhaps we can reverse our “plastication” of the environment.

References

National Geographic Society. (2019, July 1). Microplastics. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/microplastics/

NOAA. (2020, December 4). What are microplastics? National Ocean Service website. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html

Rogers, K. (2020, September 8). Microplastics. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/microplastic

Weizmann Institute of Science. (2020, December 23). Plastic is blowing in the wind. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 23, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201223125738.htm

Witts, Charlotte. (2018, November 11). List of Countries That Have Banned Microbeads. Naturaler. https://naturaler.co.uk/where-are-microbeads-banned/