Microplastics Invade Tap Water, Seawater, Beaches, and Shellfish: EPA Launches Comprehensive Investigation

Plastic Has Invaded Everything! The EPA's first investigation publishes microplastic levels in tap water, seawater, beach sand and gravel, and shellfish, confirming that microplastics were detected in most samples. The number of plastic particles detected in tap water ranged from 0 to 6 fibers per liter; microplastic counts in seawater ranged from 1,000 to 18,500 per 1,000 liters; beach sand and gravel contained 26 to 2,400 per kilogram; and farmed and wild shellfish contained 0.2 to 5.2 per gram. The sources of the plastic range from disposable tableware, bottle caps, facial scrub beads, beverage cups, diapers, tires, and plastic packaging to various other everyday consumer products, with a total of 12 types of plastic components.

Quick fact: Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than 5 mm (roughly the size of a grain of rice) that are rapidly ingested by organisms, causing greater harm to living things than larger plastic fragments, making them an environmental issue of global concern in recent years. International research shows that the scope of contamination is not limited to the marine environment; microplastics have been found in freshwater and on land in many countries, and even in the North and South Poles.