TINY pieces of plastic pollution are produced just by opening a bottle or tearing a food wrapper. Microplastics are between 0.001 and 5 millimetres in size and are usually either produced directly, or form when large plastic debris breaks up. We know that millions of tonnes of microplastics get into the environment and can harm marine life. Microplastics are also found in food, although the effect on human health is still unclear. Cheng Fang at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and his team tested whether everyday activities could be part of the problem. They opened common plastic items such as bags, bottles and packaging film by twisting the bottle cap or tearing the bag, for example, or by cutting them with scissors or a knife.
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