Marine pollution from pyroplastics.

Items of marine plastic litter are conventionally classified as primary or secondary, depending on whether they are distinct objects or angular fragments, respectively. "Pyroplastic" is an additional type of plastic litter that is described here, based on observations made on beached samples from south west England. Pyroplastics are derived from the informal or more organised burning of manufactured plastics and may be angular "plastiglomerates", comprising pieces of plastic debris within a matrix, or rounded plastic "pebbles", where agglomerated material has been weathered and smoothed into more brittle and neutrally-coloured geogenic-looking clasts.

Identification, origin and characteristics of bio-bead microplastics from beaches in western Europe.

Primary microplastics have been collected from 17 beaches along the Atlantic, English Channel and southern North Sea coasts of western Europe. Based on visual characteristics, these plastics were differentiated as either relatively smooth, lentil- or disc-shaped pre-production pellets (or nurdles), which were usually a few mm in diameter and were mainly white to off-white, or rougher and more irregular pellets that were slightly larger and usually black. The latter appeared to be bio-beads, or plastics that are specifically manufactured for use as biomedia in certain sewage water treatment (SWT) plants and, possibly, in other industrial wastewater treatment applications.