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

Microplastics found in the sand of dozens of NZ beaches

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

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.

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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  • Microplastics
    Microplastics

    Fig. 8. Representative optical images of (A) colourless fibre, (B) colourless film, and (C) green fragment. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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    Attribution: de Lena et al. (2025)

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  • Sampling sites
    Sampling sites

    Fig. 1. Geographical location of sampling sites. (A) Map of New Zealand, highlighting the three regions where sampling was conducted and the locations within each region: (B) Northland, (C) Waikato, and (D) Canterbury.

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    Attribution: de Lena et al. (2025)

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  • Graphical abstract
    Graphical abstract

    Graphical abstract

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    Attribution: de Lena et al. (2025)

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