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A survey of 11 remote areas in the western United States found that 300m water bottles worth of plastic rains down on the areas each year. The territories include national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Craters of the Moon and Great Basin. 1,000 metric tonnes of microplastics have travelled to these places through the atmosphere like rain or water particles prior to being deposited. The team that conducted the study concluded that most of the microplastics in the 11 areas originated from large urban territories and were carried into the atmosphere by a storm.
Most of the microplastics found in the 11 areas came from larger plastic items that have broken down elsewhere, possibly in a waste pile of landfill. This is the first stage of a process known as 'plastic spiraling', which includes a larger plastic item breaking down into microplastics and travelling through the Earth's atmosphere, water or soil systems. The microplastics that are swept into the atmosphere are deposited in one spot, then carried into the atmosphere, transported for a while, deposited and picked up again. Therefore, the plastic can travel anywhere over a very long time.
Other recent studies have revealed the health effects of microplastics include asthma, cancer and plastics getting lodged into lung tissue. In 2019, a study found that Danish residents in urban areas inhale 11 microplastic particles per hour.
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