La Repubblica, 7/10/2016

“Ogni volta che mettiamo in moto una lavatrice scarichiamo in acqua centinaia di migliaia di microfibre sintetiche. E una buona parte arriva in mare. E’ il risultato di una ricerca condotta dall’università di Plymouth, in Inghilterra. Lo studio è stato fatto prendendo in esame cicli di lavaggio di indumenti sintetici a temperature standard comprese tra 30 e 40 gradi: durante un singolo lavaggio possono essere rilasciate più di 700 mila microfibre di plastica.” leggi l’articolo QUI

Fibra sintetica al microscopio

Tiny plastic particles released by synthetic fabrics can cause harm to marine life when they enter rivers and oceans, new study by Plymouth University.

Read the full article here.

Original article: in press, Marine Pollution Bulletin: Napper & Thompson, 2016 –

Release of synthetic microplastic plastic fibres from domestic washing machines: Effects of fabric type and washing conditions

And about the micro fibers pollution and the apparel industry: California study

Assessing the impacts of microfiber pollution in the environment 

There are 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating in our oceans. This map shows you where. Click on it to be redirected to the website.

L’ ONG Marevivo promuove la campagna “MARE MOSTRO”. Sul sito tutte le informazioni necessarie per firmare la petizione! Qui invece la proposta di legge presentata a maggio 2016.

From a new study by the European Food Safety Authority Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM):

Microplastics can contain on average 4% of additives and the plastics can adsorb contaminants.

Toxicity and toxicokinetic data are lacking for both microplastics and nanoplastics for a human risk assessment.

For microplastics and nanoplastics, occurrence data in food, including effects of food processing, in particular, for the smaller sized particles (< 150 μm) should be generated. Research on the toxicokinetics and toxicity, including studies on local effects in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, are needed as is research on the degradation of microplastics and potential formation of nanoplastics in the human GI tract.

Government announces plans to ban microbeads in cosmetics and personal care products.

Read the full communication here.

A study conducted by Plymouth University investigators and published in Marine Pollution Bulletin in 2015 revealed that almost 100,000 ‘microbeads’ could be released in every single application of certain products.

Similarly, in Italy a law proposal has been deposited in May at the Italian Parliament by the NGO Marevivo, which asks for a complete ban on the use of microplastics in cosmetic products by 2019.The parliament shall vote the proposal by November, which would ban both production and selling of care products with microplastics from 1th January 2019.

Microplastiche nei cosmetici. Dalla Repubblica del 25/07/2016.

Saturday, June 25th. It was a very nice and sunny day and we were sampling along the Pesa torrent (Arno tributary). We had fun, and our citizen scientists were ready to start! After the training and the successful test passed (to start sampling), I have to thank the community of volunteers for support and for the enthusiasm shown! No rubbish was found on the river banks on that day, luckily. But we will keep monitoring and possibly include micro plastics, too. Stay tuned!

Cristina getting some water

Rossella and Giampiero getting the sample

Cristina, Cristina, Giampiero, Alberto, Marco and Rossella checking the turbidity of the water with the Secchi-tube

Rossella holding a nitrate testing tube, waiting for the results of the colorimetric analysis