Microplastics
what are they?
microplastics are plastical fragments smaller than 5mm (in lenght) made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms bound together into polymer chains.
where do they come from?
they come from bigger plastic objects or even beauty and cosmetic products or syntetic clothing, plastic bags and other stuff like this.
how are they created?
plastic waste has gotten weakened and torn apart by the sun, the wind and the waves, creating, as said before, the microplastics.
these bits are still very durable and have spread out over time, so they can now be found everywhere in the oceans, from the sea floor to its surface.
the impacts of the microplastics, linked to water pollution, affects both the environment and the biodiversity (including humans!)
plastic confetti looks like food to plankton and even bigger fish, such as whales.
scientists have found them in 114 aquatic species.
more than a half of those ends up on our dishes, so reserches have found out that every human eats around 5g of plastics per year.
a danger for everyone
furthermore, experiments show that microplastics damage aquatic creatures, as well as turtles and birds: they block digestion, decrease hunger and urge to eat, and alter feeding behavior, all of which reduce growth and reproduction.
Because of animals’ stomachs stuffed with plastic and no other healthy food, some species starve and die.
big quantities, big issue
what we've done
between 1950 and 2015, we produced 6300 million metric tons of plastic waste.
the majority of this waste (about 4,900 million metric tons) ended up in landfills.
future predictions
researchers estimated that by 2050 the amount of plastic waste in the environment would reach 12000 million metric tons.
how much do we contribute to this deadly pollution?
every year from 5 to 14 millions tons of plastics flow into our oceans from coastal areas.
be careful: what can you do?
your help matters
as a result of all of these considerations, we can agree that microplastics are one of the most harmful danger to humans and environment and, because of its durability, it’ll be an important issue for many years in the future.
however we can try to reduce our polluting production of plastics by recycling, reusing and reducing!