Microplastics found across the Arctic may be fibres from laundry

Polyester fibres make up nearly three-quarters of microplastic pollution in the Arctic and probably come from textile manufacturing and household laundry. Peter Ross at the University of British Columbia in Canada and his colleagues examined seawater samples from 71 locations across the Arctic taken from 3 to 8 metres below the surface. Microplastics were present in all samples except one, with a count of approximately 40 microplastic particles per cubic metre of seawater on average. They found that synthetic fibres made up 92 per cent of the microplastic pollution in these samples, and 73 per cent of this is polyester.

(www.newscientist.com, Karina Shah, January 12, 2020)