Microplastics unintentionally released into the environment in the EU

Tonnes of microplastics unintentionally released into the environment every year in the EU.

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DG Environment estimates that between 0.7-1.8 million tonnes of microplastics were unintentionally released into the environment in the EU in 2019.

The main sources of microplastics and the estimated released amounts are:

Paints: between 231 000 – 863 000 tonnes. Paints releases occur during application, wear and tear, or removal of paint. Approximately 21% of the 2.4 million tonnes of plastic polymers used paint in the EU in 2019, leaked into the environment in the form of microplastics.

Tyres: between 36 0000 - 54 0000 tonnes. Microplastic releases from tyres are generated as a consequence of the friction of tyres on road surfaces. Passenger cars make up the largest source of tyre wear particle emissions.

Pellets: between 52 140- 184 290 tonnes. Pellets are small pieces of raw material used to produce plastic products, these are lost during the handling and transportation. Pellets are known to be eaten by a range of marine and coastal species and can cause physical harm or death.

Textiles: between 1 649 - 61 078 tonnes. Approximately 60% of textiles are made from plastics. Small textile fibers are lost during production, use, washing, drying, and waste handling of textiles.

Geotextiles: 6 000- 19 750 tonnes. Geotextiles are mainly made of synthetic fibers, used primarily in road construction, erosion prevention and drainage. Their use in harsh conditions lead to release of microplastic release into their surroundings.

Detergent capsules: 4 140 – 5 980 tonnes. They are designed to dissolve during the washing cycle, but more research is needed to determine to what extent this occurs in all environmental media and their possible emissions of microplastics into the environment.

(Source: European Commission, 2023)

Microplastics are bits of plastic which are less than 5 millimetres in size. They are found everywhere from mountain tops to the bottom of oceans, in the air, and even in our bodies. Once microplastics reach the environment they are extremely difficult to remove, they are also persistent and very mobile, therefore the accumulation of microplastics in the environment (and in our bodies) is a serious and growing concern. Microplastics can enter the environment either directly as microplastics (this is referred to as primary microplastics) or indirectly through the breakdown of larger plastic pollution items (secondary microplastics). Secondary microplastics represent the bulk of microplastics release and all plastic pollution eventually breaks into smaller and smaller pieces (Manshoven et al., 2022; European Commission, 2018). Primary microplastics, on the other hand, come from either ntentionally added microplastics, which are microplastics deliberately added in products, such as cosmetics or personal care products, or from unintentional release. Unintentionally release are microplastics emitted during the use-phased of products, such as textiles, tyres, or paints.

The Circular Economy Action Plan (COM(2020) 98 final), the Soil Strategy (COM/2021/699 final), the REACH restriction on microplastics intentionally added to products, the proposal for a Regulation on preventing plastic pellet losses to the environment as well as the negotiations on the Drinking Water Directive and Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive represent a growing number of actions contributing to the Zero Pollution Action Plan (COM/2021/400 final) target of reducing microplastic releases into the ocean by 30% by 2030.

Definition

Tonnes of microplastics emitted to the environment in the EU each year.

Methodology

· Estimates based on available data from different studies.

· Data presented in this fiche comes from the brochure on EU action against microplastic pollution published by DG Environment.

· The brochure presents or uses data from several different studies. For example, source for data on microplastics emitted from paints is Paruta, P. et al. 2022. A global assessment of paint’s contribution to plastic leakage to Land Ocean & Waterways

Metadata

· Source: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/brochure-eu-action-against-microplastic-pollution_en

· Unit: tonnes of microplastics

· Temporal coverage: 2019

· Geographic coverage: the EU

Additional reading

· European Commissions webpage on microplastics

· European Commission 2023 EU action against microplastics.

· ECHAs webpage on microplastics

· EEA Briefing - Microplastics from textiles: towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe

· Paruta, P. et al. 2022. A global assessment of paint’s contribution to plastic leakage to Land Ocean & Waterways

· Verschoor, A. et al. 2016. Emission of microplastics and potential mitigation measures

· Brown, E. et al. 2023. The potential for a plastic recycling facility to release microplastic pollution and possible filtration remediation effectiveness

· Paruta et. al. 2022.