Microplastics Are Everywhere

Microplastics: plastic debris less than 5mm in length (NOAA)

In the 1967 movie, "The Graduate", with Dustin Hoffman, Mr. Robinson takes newly graduated Dustin Hoffman aside and tells him: "I have one word for you.  Plastics."  Plastics are everywhere and, in many cases, we don't even realize it.  Nylon is a "thermoplastic"; spandex is 85% polyurethane--a plastic, to name a couple of the most popular recent uses of plastic.  Ten years ago, before spandex became popular in men's clothing (underwear especially), 80% of all clothing contained spandex.  

According to Bioplastics News (bioplasticsnews.com), over 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute; 60 million plastic bottles per hour.

Plastics are everywhere, and the disposal of plastics is a problem that will only grow astronomically over the next several decades.  According to most estimates, only 10% of plastics produced are recycled.  If 10% of all plastic bottles are recycled, then 900,000 plastic bottles end up in the environment every single minute.

According to biologicaldiversity.org, "Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture. It only takes about 14 plastic bags for the equivalent of the gas required to drive one mile. The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year."

So what to do?Be aware: learn what your local recycling rules are and recycle everything they will accept. 
Be aware: take your plastic shopping bags back to the store.
Be aware: the clothes you wear, as well as the plastic bottles and bags, contain plastics.
According to the April 15, 2019 issue of "National Geographic":
"Scientists have warned we are creating a “plastic planet”. Some 420 million tons of plastics were produced in 2015, up from just over two million tons in 1950. Over this 65-year period roughly six billion tons ended up either in landfill or in the natural environment, a 2017 study estimated. Plastic waste that starts out as bottles, packaging, and so on degrades over time to microplastic particles or much smaller nanoparticles. One study estimated there are 15 to 51 trillion microplastics particles floating on the surface of the oceans. A trillion is one thousand billion. A trillion seconds is nearly 32,000 years."

All of us need to recycle or reuse as much as possible!