You’ve probably heard of acid rain, but what about plastic rain? Plastic rain consists of tiny microplastic particles less than 5 millimeters long. These particles are fragments of plastic bottles and other plastic waste.
Researchers have recently completed a 14-month study that took place across 11 national parks in the United States. They sampled both rain and air using a system of buckets. When it rained, the rain bucket would open to collect samples; when it was sunny, the rain bucket would close and the dry bucket would open to collect samples. Researchers found microplastic particles in 98% of the samples. They were able to conclude that over 1,000 metric tons of microplastic particles fell in these 11 national parks in a year, which is the equivalent of over 120 million plastic water bottles.
Plastic’s toughness and durability are what make it so useful. However, this very trait is what makes it a frightening pollutant, as it never really goes away. Instead it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces as it continues to spread.
Microplastics are now found in increasingly remote corners of the world, from the Arctic to isolated regions of the French Pyrenees. They’re in the oceans contaminating deep-sea ecosystems, and they’re even being blown out of the water and onto land in sea breezes.
Plastic waste is expected to grow from 260 million tons a year to 460 million tons by 2030, as a result of more people joining the middle class and emulating our current throwaway model of consumerism. The more we can focus on reducing our consumption and reusing what we already have, the better off we’ll be in the end.
