28 May/June 2022

Science

7

// BY K IM HICKOK //

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Organizations like the Ocean Cleanup use nets (above)

to capture large pieces of trash, but microplastics

often slip through. Data from a 2016 study (left)

found that fibers made up as much as 71 percent of

microplastics that flow into the Great Lakes.

T

HE ABUNDANCE OFSINGLE-USE PLASTIC ITEMS

such as water bottles, grocery bags, and pack-

aging materials has soared since the 1950s.

These objects break down into microplastics,

or tiny bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters

long (less than half the width of your pinky

fingernail), which are now ubiquitous.

No one knows exactly how much microplastic has

made it into the environment, but in 2021, an interna-

tional team of multidisciplinary scientists estimated

that there were 24.4 trillion pieces of microplastics

in the world’s upper oceans alone, or the equivalent of

roughly 30 billion plastic water bottles.

How and Why

Microplastics

Invade Our

Everyday Lives