Microplastics from Africa and North America found airborne in French Pyrenees, 2,877 metres above sea level.

From Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, microplastics are everywhere – even high in the Earth’s troposphere where wind speeds allow them to travel vast distances, a new study has found.

Microplastics are tiny fragments – measuring less than 5mm – that come from packaging, clothing, vehicles and other sources and have been detected on land, in water and in the air.

Scientists from the French national research institute CNRS sampled air 2,877 metres above sea level at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees, a so-called “clean station” because of the limited influence exerted on it by the local climate and environment.

There they tested 10,000 cubic metres of air a week between June and October of 2017 and found all samples contained microplastics...

The Guardian. No mountain high enough: study finds plastic in ‘clean’ air