SYDNEY, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Microplastic pollution in Sydney's waterways has tripled over the past three years, making the Australian city a hotspot for marine plastic contamination, a report revealed Wednesday.
The report by the non-governmental Australian Microplastic Assessment Project, which analyzed seven years of shoreline surveys within the state of New South Wales, found an average of 1,004 microplastic pieces per square meter in samples of the state capital Sydney between 2022 and 2025, up from 306 in the 2018-2021 monitoring period.
Microplastics, smaller than 5 mm from larger debris breakdown and industrial products like clothing, tires and more, permeate modern life. They spread via stormwater, air, wastewater and rivers into ecosystems, the report said.
Polystyrene foam and "hard" plastic fragments made up between 50 and 90 percent of debris, largely traced to mismanaged waste from construction sites, packaging and floating structures, it said.
The New South Wales government said its Plastics Plan 2.0 is phasing out items like bread tags, fruit stickers and bags with handles, and aims to require new washing machines to include microfiber filters by 2028, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. ■
