The surging tide of microplastics is already an environmental and health threat, but as the world heats up — driving increasingly extreme weather — it’s transforming them into “more mobile, persistent, and hazardous pollutants,” according to a new study, which calls for urgent action.The connection between plastic and climate change usually focuses on how plastic is partly to blame for the crisis: more than 98% of it is made using fossil fuels, and climate pollution is released during every stage of its life cycle, from manufacture to disposal.Much less covered, however, is how climate change itself, by fueling more frequent and intense heat waves, fires and floods, increases plastic pollution, spreads it wider and even makes it more dangerous.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA team of scientists pored over hundreds of studies and found “ample evidence” that climate change is worsening plastic pollution in our water, soil, atmosphere and wildlife, according to the analysis published Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Science.“Plastic pollution and the climate are co-crises that intensify each other,” said lead author Frank Kelly, a professor at Imperial College London’s School of Public Health.The links are multiple and complex.Rising temperatures, humidity and sunlight break plastic down, making it brittle and cracked, accelerating its disintegration into tiny fragments. A 10-degree Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) rise in temperature during an extreme heat wave could double the rate at which plastic degrades, the study noted.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementExtreme storms, flooding and wind also hasten the breakdown of plastic, mobilize it and spread it more widely. Typhoons in Hong Kong, for example, increased the concentration of microplastics in beach sediments nearly 40-fold, according to a recent study.In a strange twist, flooding can also help forge “plastic rocks,” created when rocks and plastics form a chemical bond and merge together. These become hotspots for microplastic generation.A “plastic rock” at a laboratory of the University of Parana in Brazil. – Rodrigo Fonesca/AFP/Getty ImagesWildfires, fueled by high temperatures and drought, burn through homes, offices and vehicles, releasing microplastics and highly toxic compounds into the atmosphere.Then there are the microplastics already in existence. Sea ice traps and concentrates microplastics when it forms, making it a store of plastic pollution but as global temperatures rise and sea ice melts, it could flip to becoming a major source.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementClimate change can also make plastic more harmful, the analysis found.More in ScienceMicroplastics act as “Trojan horses,” carrying substances like pesticides and forever chemicals — so-called because they don’t easily break …
