Overall, around 5,120 tons of the seven types of plastic are discharged into the environment each year. This is around 0.7% of the total amount of the seven plastics consumed in Switzerland each year (amounting to a total of around 710,000 tons). According to Empa’s modelling, around 4,400 tons of macroplastic are deposited on soils every year. In addition, about 100 tons of macroplastic are emitted to waters. 600 tons of microplastics end up in or on soils and about 15 tons in waters. The amount of microplastics is thus much smaller than that of macroplastics; in contrast, the number of microplastic particles that could have an impact on organisms is much larger.
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Source: Phys.org