Researchers from the University of Auckland have found 74 metric tonnes of microplastics are dropping out of the atmosphere onto Tāmaki Makaurau annually.
That's the equivalent of more than three million plastic bottles.
The study has raised concerns around the potential for people to be inhaling and accumulating microplastics in the human body, as the particles were extremely small.
Lead author Dr Joel Rindelaub of the School of Chemical Sciences says, “future work needs to quantify exactly how much plastic we are breathing in.”
“It’s becoming more and more clear that this is an important route of exposure.”
The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, also spells out the potential health costs of this - as microplastics have been detected in human lungs, the lung tissue of cancer patients and the placenta.
This threat of exposure has become more relevant, the paper suggests, as in the past 70 years, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic has been produced globally. Of this, only 9% has been recycled, leaving the rest to be incinerated or released into the environment.
The University of Auckland study raised concerns about the particles being inhaled and accumulated in the body. (Source: Breakfast)
Through the nine-week study, researchers found an average of 4885 airborne microplastics per square metre every day. It’s the first study of its kind, calculating the total mass of microplastics in a city’s air.
To measure this, the particles were captured by a funnel and jar in a wooden box on a rooftop in the central city, and a residential garden. Most of the microplastics required coloured dye to be seen, as they were too small for the naked eye.
You can read more about the paper’s process and findings here.
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