Cosmetic companies include microbeads in many products. These end up in the sea. The plastic soaks up some pollutants, and is also eaten by fish. It makes its way into the human food chain. It's a serious problem. Individual consumers didn't really know that they were dumping plastic into the ocean. The manufacturing companies did know, absolutely, that they were dumping hundreds of billions of these microbeads.
Acrylic clothing sheds microfibres. These are too small to be caught by washing machine filters, and they end up in the sea doing the same thing as plastic microbeads.
Acrylic clothing sheds microfibres. These are too small to be caught by washing machine filters, and they end up in the sea doing the same thing as plastic microbeads.