08/17/2026
Happy Week 3 of National Water Quality Month! Today, we're talking microplastics.
Microplastics are pieces of plastic pollution that are smaller than 5mm, meaning most of the time you cannot see them or just look like dust particles in the water column.
Microplastics can be created in various different ways:
🌊By breaking down from large pieces of plastic pollution due to wave action or sunlight
🌊Entering the ecosystem directly as a microplastic, typically as microbeads from cleaners, cosmetics, and various industrial products.
🌊Microplastics can even come from tiny pieces of threads and fibers that break off clothing made from plastic, such as nylon, polyester, acrylic, and spandex. Known as microfibers, they can shed after every wash and go down drains into sewer systems before eventually ending up in streams or rivers.
The substances and specific chemical contaminants that are in plastics can easily leach harmful toxins into the surrounding ecosystem. Microplastics also attract heavy metals and other pollutants that dissolve into the water. All of these ways can further degrades the water quality. As the consumption of single-use plastic rises, the more plastic pollution that can get into surrounding waterbodies and break down into microplastics.
There are many easy swaps in your everyday life to reduce microplastic pollution, such as swapping for a reusable water bottle, reusable grocery bag, bringing your own containers and silverware when you go out to eat, saying no to the straw, or even using beeswax to wrap your food at home! We can all help with curbing our plastic consumption to reduce the microplastic concentration in the Peconic Estuary.
