Tiny Pieces Of Plastic Found In Many Great Lakes Tributaries

Study Shows Five Wisconsin Rivers With Microplastic Pollution

Scientists say tiny pieces of plastic are widespread in many rivers that flow into the Great Lakes.

Over the last two years, researchers using fine mesh nets collected more than 100 samples from 29 Great Lakes tributaries, including five rivers in Wisconsin: the Nemadji, Manitowoc, Fox, Sheboygan and Milwaukee Rivers. 

U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologist Austin Baldwin, the lead author of a study published this week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, said microplastics were found in every sample collected from the tributaries, often in much higher amounts than other researchers have detected in the lakes.

"The concentrations that we saw in the tributaries were 10 to 1,000 times higher than in the Great Lakes," Baldwin said...