Published in a recent study titled “It is raining plastic,” the findings raise new questions about the amount of plastic waste seeping into air, water, and soil globally.
Trail to Colorado's highest peak, Mount Elbert in the Rocky Mountains
Rainwater samples collected across Colorado and analyzed under a microscope revealed a kaleidoscope of fibers, particles and plastic fragments.
Rainwater samples collected across Colorado were analyzed under a microscope and revealed numerous plastic fibers.
The main source of these plastic fibers is plastic waste. More than 90% of plastic waste is not recycled and as it gradually decomposes, it breaks into smaller pieces, which are then released into the atmosphere, and then washed down to the ground, rivers, lakes, seas... during rains.
Plastic waste is everywhere...
... causing harm to many species of living things.
Plastic waste is everywhere, not just in Colorado, and if people do not change their plastic usage habits in particular and raise awareness of environmental protection in general, then similar "plastic rains" will probably continue to fall "from the sky".
