Study claims just 8% of ocean fibres are synthetic

LONDON – New research claims that only 8 per cent of ocean fibres are synthetic, while most – 80 per cent – are cellulosic, and the remainder are of animal origin. Researchers collected seawater samples from six oceanic basins and concluded that the abundance of microplastic fibres in natural environments has probably been significantly overestimated by hundreds of studies. The peer-reviewed research claims most fibres in the oceans, rather than being plastic, are “dyed cellulose.”