She added that the aim of the study was merely to measure the problem, and she described it as the first global estimate. The figures translate to roughly 18 to 24 shopping bags full of small plastic fragments for every foot of coastline on every continent except for Antarctica, Dr. Hardesty said. The study found zero plastic particles in some deep-ocean sediment, but up to 13.6 particles per gram in others, a figure up to 25 times larger than what had been found in earlier deep-sea studies of microplastics. Dr. Hardesty said that trash was more likely to accumulate in some parts of the ocean than others. Things are going to accumulate or end up in some areas.” She added, “It’s similar to if you go to the beach, you can walk along the beach and see no trash, no trash, no trash, no trash, and all of a sudden you reach this spot and it’s just full of trash.”

Source: New York Times October 07, 2020 05:15 UTC