Have you met microplastics?

Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. ... Plastic debris can come in all shapes and sizes, but those that are less than five millimeters in length (or about the size of a sesame seed) are called “microplastics.”

For further reading:

Abreu, A., Pedrotti, M.L., Microplastics in the oceans: the solutions lie on land, Field Actions Science Reports, Special Issue 19, 2019, http://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/5290

Jambeck, J.R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T.R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R., Law, K.L., 2015. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science 347, 768–771. doi:10.1126/science.1260352

Smith, M., Love, D. C., Rochman, C. M., & Neff, R. A. (2018). Microplastics in Seafood and the Implications for Human Health. Current environmental health reports, 5(3), 375–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-018-0206-z

Tiseo, I., 2021, Global plastic production 1950-2020, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/282732/global-production-of-plastics-since-1950/

Wright SL, Kelly FJ. Plastic and Human Health: A Micro Issue? Environ Sci Technol. 2017 Jun 20;51(12):6634- 6647. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b00423. Epub 2017 Jun 7. PMID: 28531345.

Yang D, Shi H, Li L, Li J, Jabeen K, Kolandhasamy P. Microplastic pollution in table salts from China. Environ Sci Technol. 2015;49(22):13622–13627. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5b03163.