A University of Auckland study has unravelled a years’ long mystery of what the most common microplastics in our waters are – and suggests ways to reduce the number of these tiny particles polluting our marine environment.
University of Auckland marine microplastics researcher Dr Samantha Ladewig says the tiny unidentified fragments of black material that were the most common microplastics found in coastal water samples clearly weren’t plastic packaging or clothing fibres, but they melted when heated in the lab just like plastic does. When poked with a needle under a microscope they were “squishy” in a way that plastic isn’t, she says.
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