Kuttelvaserova Stuchelova/Shutterstock
Nanoplastics have been found in the brain, lungs, arteries, semen and placenta. But the harms are still unknown.
Plastic pollution can have devastating effects on rivers.
Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock
Understanding how plastic pollution moves in rivers is key to effective cleanup strategies.
Eleanor Church / X Trillion film
A new film charts the voyage of an all-women crew who crossed oceans to sample microplastic pollution.
University of Plymouth
Since coining the term microplastics 20 years ago on May 7 2004, Richard Thompson reflects on the progress being made to halt plastic pollution.
Trash collected in a 2019 cleanup that removed 24,000 pounds (10,000 kilograms) of garbage from Mount Everest.
Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Mountain tourism brings revenues to Nepal but leaves a mess behind. Local and international groups are offering new cleanup strategies.
There is growing concern about the threats microplastics may pose to human health.
Deemerwha studio/ Shutterstock
The findings of this recent study adds to a growing body of evidence linking microplastics with health harms.
Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock
Microplastics are created when everyday products – including clothes, food and beverage packaging, home furnishings, plastic bags, toys and toiletries – degrade.
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock
Next time you do your laundry, think like an astronaut – wash your clothes as little as possible.
Pixel-Shot, Shutterstock
We sampled sewage sludge from 13 wastewater treatment plants across three states. We found every resident adds microplastics to farmland, in dried sewage sludge (biosolids) used as fertiliser.
A fisherman on the River Nile.
Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images
The River Nile is contaminated with microplastics.
You may hardly feel a raindrop, but for some tiny insects, one drop can have an intense impact.
Mendowong Photography/Moment via Getty Images
Microplastic pollution is a growing problem − one lab is looking at tiny insects as inspiration for how these pollutants might move through water.
A worker sorting plastic bottles at a recycling plant in Lagos.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP / Getty Images
Recycled plastics are not safe if the chemicals used in creating them in the first place are harmful.
Laundry washwater is a major source of microplastic fibers that can end up in water and soil.
Venca-Stastny/iStock via Getty Images
Your washing machine is polluting the ocean.
Efetova Anna / shutterstock
Five reasons to avoid glitter, even on Christmas cards or baubles.
meeboonstudio/Shutterstock
Microscopic flakes of polystyrene can enter brain cells and cause harm, a new study in mice has shown.
STEKLO/Shutterstock
Media coverage of the dangers of plastic pollution can distract from what is actually needed, says an author.
Most of the world washes their clothing by hand.
elJad/Pixabay
Simply trying to avoid synthetic clothing won’t fix our microfibre pollution problem
More than 8 million pumpkins are thrown away over Halloween each year.
Evgeny Atamanenko/Shutterstock
Halloween is a sustainability nightmare – but it doesn’t have to be.
Researchers on the frozen surface of Lake Kallavesi prepare to take a sample of the sediment down below.
Timo Saarinen
Since the 1950s, billions of tons of plastic have been produced and much of it ends up in the environment – even at the bottom of lakes in Finland.
A Risso’s dolphin entangled in fishing line.
Andrew Sutton/Shutterstock
New research shows that relatively large microplastic particles can make their way into the body tissues of marine mammals.