Modern life would be impossible without plastic - but we have long since lost control over our invention. Why has plastic turned into a problem and what do we know about its dangers?... 51 Trillion particles of microplastics float in our oceans. Yet there is very little science of how this affects our health. This video shows why we should gain back control over plastic in our lives.

The Microplastics in the Baltic project is assessing the impact of plastic in biodiversity, climate change and human health in the Baltic region. IUCN is leading the first worldwide project to study the possible impacts of plastic in ice formation and melting. We will understand if plastic has any impact in sea ice formation, how much plastic is actually "scavenged" from the water and incorporated in ice and if plastic (at high concentrations) can play a role in ice melting.

Like microbeads, polystyrene plastics are environmental hazards. They are extremely toxic to make and difficult to recycle. Polystyrene and "Styrofoam" are even banned from many recycling programs because of contamination problems - less than 2% of polystyrene was recycled in 2013.

Microplastics come from a variety of sources, including from larger plastic debris that degrades into smaller and smaller pieces. In addition, microbeads, a type of microplastic, are very tiny pieces of manufactured polyethylene plastic that are added as exfoliants to health and beauty products, such as some cleansers and toothpastes. These tiny particles easily pass through water filtration systems and end up in the ocean and Great Lakes, posing a potential threat to aquatic life.

During our October 27 webinar, we discussed what the newest research is revealing about the pervasiveness and dangers of microplastics, and highlighted ways to reduce your exposure to microplastics as well as how to support legislation and policy change to make an impact.

Most of us wear synthetic fabrics like polyester every day. Our dress shirts, yoga pants, fleeces, and even underwear are all increasingly made of synthetic materials -- plastic, in fact. But these synthetic fabrics, from which 60% of all clothing on earth is made, have a big hidden problem: when they're washed, they release tiny plastic bits -- called microfibers -- that flow down our drains, through water treatment plants, and out into our rivers, lakes and oceans by the billions.

This 2-minute "explainer" shows how tiny plastic microbeads are designed to go down the drain and into our rivers, lakes, and oceans and we can do to stop this ridiculous assault on our public waters.

We've all been told that we should recycle plastic bottles and containers. But what actually happens to the plastic if we just throw it away? Emma Bryce traces the life cycles of three different plastic bottles, shedding light on the dangers these disposables present to our world." To view the full TED-Ed lesson, click here

A 10-year-old girl walks to the edge of the Kansas River in Topeka, Kansas, rolls up a note, and slips it into a plastic bottle before sending it downstream. Sixteen years, hundreds of miles, and two rivers later, Michael Coyne-Logan, an educational facilitator for Living Lands and Waters, hoists it from the Mississippi River in St. Louis. That is one bottle among the millions of pounds of trash that he and his cleanup crew have collected in recent years as they try to make a dent in the enormous amount of garbage floating down the Mississippi.

The Big Microplastic survey is a collaborative citizen science project being undertaken by UK registered charity, Just One Ocean and the University of Portsmouth. The project began in July 2018 and numerous individuals and organisations from around the world have joined the programme.