Microplastics
Some of the world’s deepest living sea creatures have been found to have plastic in them. Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science sampled creatures off the Western Isles and a staggering 48% were found with plastic in them, at depths of up to 2,000m (6,561.8ft). Read more.
These plastics consisted of polyethylene and polyester found in plastic shopping bags and clothing. Polyester fibres can reach the seas in waste water from washing machines and to add to the problem, many household and cosmetic products contain tiny pieces of plastics, known as microplastics. These plastics are washed down the drain when you brush your teeth, scrub your face or clean the house and can end up in our oceans as they are too small to be caught in water filtration systems.
The good news is that the UK government pledged to ban plastic microbeads by 2017 and there’s a free app, which can help you find out whether your face scrub or toothpaste contains plastics.
The Beat the Bead app scans barcodes on household and cosmetic products, checking whether they contain these harmful plastics.
the app for your iPhone or Android device.