Terrifying information comes to us from scientists from the Institute of Marine and Polar Research Alfred Wegener. They have conducted a large-scale study of sea ice in the Arctic in recent months.
With the help of the Fourier's spectroscopy technique, they found that in every liter of ice there are unimaginable 12,000 pieces of plastic. More than half of the microplastics trapped in ice are smaller than 1/20 of a millimeter.
The smallest one that could be detected was only 11 micrometers. It is six times less than the thickness of a human hair. Further data is even more frightening, as as much as 67 percent of the microprocessor fragments have dimensions below 50 micrometers. German scientists selected 17 types of plastics, among them: polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, polyester, cellulose octat and paint fragments.
Such small fragments mean that they can easily be absorbed by even the smallest sea creatures, and later they reach our plates and our stomachs.
Researchers on the basis of their research emphasize that in the world's rivers, seas and oceans there is so much microplastic that one man consumes about 11,000 pieces of it every year.