Microbeads are the latest boogeyman in the fight to save the environment.
Scientists say in a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology that 8 trillion microbeads are entering aquatic habitats every single day in the United States, enough microbeads to cover 300 tennis courts, according to a CNN report.
Microbeads are tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm, and they are intended for washing down trains. However, they are simply literring the oceans and freshwater lakes of the Earth, the study’s authors say, and that’s bad for the environment.
They’ve become a popular addition in products ranging from toothpaste to soap. Although their tiny size doesn’t seem like a problem, they actually can be a contaminant that waste-water treatment plants aren’t built to handle.