A macroscopic view of microplastic formation

Twenty years ago, Richard Thompson, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth, and his colleagues first used the term microplastic to describe the microscopic bits of plastic they were finding and trying to quantify in marine sediments around Plymouth, England. Four years later, participants of an international workshop hosted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defined microplastics as “ plastic particles smaller than 5 mm. ” Policy makers started using the term shortly thereafter. Since then, scientists have embraced this definition and published hundreds of papers on the environmental accumulation of microplastics and their possible sources. “We use so much plastic in our daily life, and it breaks down and sloughs off over time,” ecologist Chelsea Rochman of the University of Toronto says. “So microplastics, truly at this point, are everywhere.” The most prevalent source of plastic, however, will vary from place to place. With proper monitoring,