Scientists have warned of the growing threat of plastic pollution across the globe, but back room negotiations this week on a European law to tackle plastic pellet loss hint at the difficulty of forging consensus between governments.“The more we know, the worse the situation appears,” said Winnie Lau, a researcher with the Pew Charitable Trusts who presented preliminary data on the scale of the problem at a forum today hosted by the European Commission and Hungary, current EU Council presidency holder.Around a third of all plastic pollution is microplastics – particles from 5mm down to microscopic levels – which are either made that size, like the raw plastic pellets or ‘nurdles’ used to make other products, or result from the breakdown of larger plastics.Lau estimated the amount released into the environment in 2019 at 11.4 million tonnes, with the main sources being tyres and paint, followed by mechanical recycling, plastic pellets, textiles and particles intentionally added to cleaning and personal care products.“To give you a sense of scale, 11.4 million metric tons is equivalent to a fully loaded shipping container of microbeads entering the environment every two minutes,” Lau said. Microplastics are now everywhere - including inside us Richard Thompson, an academic with the distinction of having coined the term microplastics in a research paper in 2004, has just published a review of the research that has been done in the area over the subsequent 20 years.“What the science is now showing us is that microplastic pollution is literally everywhere, from our highest mountains to our deepest oceans,” Thomson said. “And, of course, they're also present in all of the species across the planet as well.”All this will need