With 11 million tonnes of plastic waste entering Earth's oceans annually, the contamination of ecosystems with microscopic particles, or microplastics, has also escalated alarmingly. Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5mm wide and break down further to nanoparticles. Environmental company The Goodside Project produces the Good Catch filters in Adelaide, with founder Karen Jones Hauser keen to do more. Fibres made up 72% of the waste, plastic fragments 17% and plastic beads 8%. Nearly two-thirds of plastic waste comes from products with lifetimes of under five years, with 40% derived from packaging, 12% from consumer goods and 11% from clothing and textiles.

Source: Otago Daily Times January 03, 2026 07:07 UTC