The impact of microplastics and nanoplastics in nature is a problem that remains largely unexplored. In a recent study, microplastics were detected in the lungs of living humans - in 11 out of 13 cases.
How does it get there? Plastic decomposes over decades, sometimes centuries, when it ends up in nature. However, it does not "disappear" but breaks down into increasingly smaller particles: these micro- and nanoparticles, which are no longer visible to the naked eye, remain in the environment and are also dispersed through the air. Currently, up to 25 million tonnes of micro- and nanoplastics enter the atmosphere annually and are transported by humid air, snow, sea spray, or fog up to thousands of kilometres across countries, continents, and oceans. This is the finding of another study. Particles such as tyre and brake wear, but also exhaust particles from industrial processes, are distributed worldwide by wind much faster than microplastics within water. This is problematic because air currents also reach the most remote corners, including the Arctic and Antarctic.
Scientists suspect that these particles can also influence our climate and thus further accelerate climate change. Melanie Bergmann, one of the lead authors of the study, explains: "We must integrate micro- and nanoplastics into our air pollution measurements, and ideally do so internationally as part of global networks."
Sources:
Allen et al. (2022): Microplastics and nanoplastics in marine-atmosphere environments. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00292-x
Jenner et al. (2022): Detection of microplastics in human lung tissue using μFTIR spectroscopy. Science of the Total Environment, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154907
