Resources

Macroplastics are large pieces of plastic (>5mm). Because of their large size, they are easy to see and are often what we think of when we picture litter.

Macroplastics can be littered on purpose or by accident and can travel through water or over land.

Different types of macroplastics move differently depending on their shape, size, and material. This can affect how they impact our environment and humans.

Once they are added to the environment, macroplastics can break down into microplastics over time.

This process can go faster if the plastic is in the sun, or is worn down by things like wind, waves, or rocks.

Microplastics are small pieces of plastic (<5mm) about the size of a grain of rice, a pencil eraser, a pinkie nail, or smaller.

Microplastics can be produced on purpose (Primary Microplastics) or they can come from broken pieces of larger plastics (Secondary Microplastics).

Microplastics can be made of different polymers, come in different shapes, and vary in size.

Microplastics can enter both the environment and our bodies. There is a lot we do not know about how this affects human or environmental health, or how these microplastics move around.

The exact size of a nanoplastic is not clearly defined, but we define it as plastic pieces smaller than 1 μm in size. These plastics often result from the breakdown of larger plastics. Nanoplastics are very hard to detect because they are so small. They may also have different effects on humans or the environment because of their small size. 

Plastics may contribute to climate change in their production. Plastics are made using heat and are usually made from fossil fuels, both of which have impacts on climate change. 

At the same time, climate change impacts plastics. Water temperature changes could affect the way plastic moves through water bodies. Increased storm events could increase or change the movement of plastics. As water temperature and pH changes, this could impact the degradation of microplastics and the growth of biofilms or "coronas" on plastics. 

There are a lot of different places that plastic pollution can come from. Plastic pollution can come from litter (people accidentally or intentionally leaving plastic outside of waste bins), mismanaged waste (waste that is accidentally or intentionally released into the environment), production (plastics accidentally or intentionally lost during production), and more. Other sources include fishing gear, construction waste, agriculture materials that are lost. There are lots of other sources of plastic pollution that we have not listed here. 

There are many things you can do to reduce your exposure to plastics and also to reduce plastic pollution:

• Use less plastic or choose non-plastics options.
• Avoid plastic packaging and cooking or eating with plastic.
• Choose natural fabrics and clothing.
• Try wet dusting and vacuuming, or using an air filter.
• Recycle properly and avoid littering.
• Choose tap water over bottled water, or use a water filter.
• Get involved in litter clean-ups.
• Learn about policies related to plastics and microplastics.
• Stay up to date on research from reliable sources.

Help us create new materials by filling out our comment card.