Microplastics found in the sand of dozens of NZ beaches

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-05-27 09:57

New Zealand

The microplastics found on a Waikato beach. Photos from study: de Lena et al. (2025)

Scientists have extracted microplastics from the sand of 22 beaches from the Far North to Banks Peninsula. Almost all of the microplastic particles were smaller than a dust mite (<300 μm). However the researchers could only detect particles larger than a human skin cell (32 μm), so they say there's likely even more plastic in the sand than they could find, which could mean greater potential negative impacts on coastal wildlife.

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Microplastics

Sampling sites

Graphical abstract

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Research Elsevier, Web page Open access

Journal/
conference: Marine Pollution Bulletin

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Scion, ESR (Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd)

Funder: The authors acknowledge the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, who funded the work as part of the Aotearoa Impacts and Mitigation of Microplastics project (Endeavour Fund contract number C03X1802).

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