Microplastics in our air ‘spiral the globe’, study finds
Tiny bits of plastics from everyday use items could be traveling in the atmosphere across entire continents, carried by winds, a new study found.
“Akin to global biogeochemical cycles, plastics now spiral around the globe,” said the study, led by researchers from Utah State University and Cornell University, and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Most of our plastic waste gets buried in landfills, incinerated or recycled — but up to 18 per cent ends up in the environment. Though plastics take a eons to decompose, it fragments into smaller pieces until the microplastics are small enough to be swept into the air.
That means much of the plastic that gets dumped in the sea and across the land is broken down and spat back out, posing potential risks for our ecosystems. And though there has been some progress with the creation of biodegradable polymers, the researchers warned microplastics “will continue to cycle through the earth’s systems.”
The research team collected atmospheric microplastic data from the western United States during 2017 to 2019, and found an estimated 22,000 tons of microplastics are being deposited across the US each year.
According to the study, the US, Europe, Middle East, India and Eastern Asia are hotspots for land-based plastic deposition. The researchers also called for better plastic waste management.
