1,000 tons of microplastic rains down on National Parks and the wilderness in the western US every y
Related: Plastic rain in protected areas of the United States (Science magazine)
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Source: CNN
1,000 tons of microplastic rains down on National Parks and the wilderness in the western US every year, study says
Allen Kim, CNN • Updated 11th June 2020
(CNN) — Eleven billion metric tons. That's how much plastic is expected to accumulate in the environment by 2025, according to new research from a group of scientists.
Much of that plastic ends up as a pollutant. More than 1,000 metric tons of microplastic particles fall onto National Parks and protected lands in the western US annually. That's the equivalent of up to 300 million plastic bottles, the researchers found.
In a new report published on Thursday in Science magazine, titled "Plastic rain in protected areas of the United States," scientists found that these secondary plastics are found in "nearly every ecosystem on the planet."
The researchers found that microplastic pollution can be carried all around the world like dust -- being delivered by wind and rain.
Wet-deposited microplastics -- microplastics deposited through precipitation -- were larger in size but lower in number. Regional storms play a role in spreading these microplastics as they pass through urban centers and over erodible soil.
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Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/microplastic-pollution-scn-trnd/index.html
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