We know about the disastrous ways in which plastic affects the world’s oceans. Billions of pieces of plastic are floating in the oceans. Their effects are also sufficiently well-known: marine animals swallow them or get tangled up in them, which causes them to die in agony. On the other hand, we know less about the consequences of the smallest pieces of plastic, known as microplastics. Empa researchers have now started to investigate how microplastics are generated and where they actually come from.