Twenty years of microplastic pollution research-what have we learned?

Twenty years after the first publication that used the term microplastic, we review current understanding, refine definitions, and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources, including tires, textiles, cosmetics, paint, and the fragmentation of larger items. They are widely distributed throughout the natural environment, with evidence of harm at multiple levels of biological organization.

The cost of marine litter damage to the global marine economy: Insights from the Asia-Pacific into prevention and the cost of inaction.

Marine litter is recognised as imposing a range of costs on marine economies and environments as we target UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to 2030. Prevention of these avoidable damage costs can restore economic benefits and ocean health. In the Asia-Pacific we estimate the annual damage cost from marine litter to the marine economy has risen eightfold since 2008 and in 2015 was US$10.