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NANOPLASTICSPLANETARY OBSERVATORY← Back to the observatory

FROM THE ATMOSPHERE TO THE HUMAN BODY

Planet Overview

Plastic particles are found in air, water and soil worldwide and are detected in the human body. The home counters are estimates, not measurements. None of the four systems shown meets our criterion for a proven complete solution: 0 / 4.

3 min readUpdated ReviewedAConsensusBWell supportedCLimitedEUnknownPProvenance

Earth from space centered on North America, with blue oceans, green and tan land and white cloud swirls on black
Earth's Western Hemisphere from NASA's 2002 Blue Marble, the composite behind the home-page globe: land and coastal ocean from Terra MODIS, June to September 2001, plus composited clouds. Not a single photograph and not today's clouds. Earth is about 12,700 km across.NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D globes, animation).NASASource ↗

Plastic particles are consistently found in air, water and soil (level A)1. They are detected throughout the human body, though how reliably amounts are measured is debated (level B)1,2. A 2025 study of 12 stations estimated about 27 million metric tons (27 Mt) of nanoplastic in the mixed upper layer of the temperate to subtropical North Atlantic3. The authors put this in the range of earlier estimates for larger plastic in the Atlantic or even the global ocean (level C)4.

Three numbers at three scales

≈22 Mt

plastic leaked into the environment worldwide in 2019

all plastic sizes; 88% macroplastics, 12% microplastics below 5 mm; OECD model estimate for 2019, against about 460 Mt produced that year5

single global model estimate from an intergovernmental agency, not a measured total

CLimited

≈27 Mt

nanoplastic estimated in the upper North Atlantic

mixed layer of the temperate to subtropical North Atlantic; PET, PS and PVC below 1 µm; 12 stations on one transect, extrapolated to the basin4

single study; polyethylene and polypropylene were not detected and may have been masked; not yet replicated

CLimited

100–10,000×

how far models overshot measured airborne microplastic

three earlier emission inventories, size-aligned in a transport model, against measured global medians; 2,782 measurements of air concentration and deposition from 76 studies at 283 locations, 2014–2024; particles 5–100 µm6

particle numbers (the authors converted mass data to numbers); one study, though built on a large compiled dataset

CLimited

The third number measures uncertainty rather than pollution. Laid beside 2,782 measurements of air concentration and deposition, the models overshot the measured medians by two to four orders of magnitude (level C)6.

Three numbers at three scales

Three stat tiles: about 22 Mt of plastic leaked worldwide in 2019 (modeled), about 27 Mt of nanoplastic estimated in the upper North Atlantic, and models overshooting measured airborne microplastic 100 to 10,000 times. Source:5,4,6Nanoplastics ObservatorySite original
Data table
labelvalueunitlevelsource
plastic leaked into the environment, world, 2019 (all sizes, modeled)22MtCS-011
nanoplastic, North Atlantic mixed layer (PET, PS, PVC < 1 µm, extrapolated)27MtCS-067
model overestimate of measured airborne microplastic concentration, lower bound100×CS-052
model overestimate of measured airborne microplastic concentration, upper bound10000×CS-052

What the live model shows and does not show

The home counters multiply a flow by elapsed time: since you opened the page, since midnight or since 1 January. Each flow is a named study value chosen in settings, and every counter is an estimate, not a measurement. Σ adds air and water only. With the defaults it is 1.7045 Mt a year (54 kg/s), and 99.7% of that is plastic of all sizes entering the ocean, mostly large debris (level P)7.

So Σ is not a micro- or nanoplastic total. The model subtracts nothing where flows overlap, and Σ is not plastic production. Soil has no counter because we found no global estimate of plastic entering soil each year (level E)7. Human intake is a separate mass counter. The default air flow comes from the 2026 comparison above: about 0.0045 Mt per year for particles of 5–100 µm (level C)6.

Estimate

Every number in the home counters is an estimate, not a measurement: a chosen study value multiplied by elapsed time. It is not a sensor reading and not global plastic production. Choosing another study in settings changes the counters, not any scientific result or evidence level.

How the counters run: a flow chosen from named studies, in million metric tons per year, multiplied by the time since the page opened. Estimates, not measurements; each study, year and size window is listed in Flows & Model.Nanoplastics ObservatorySite original

What the zero means

0 / 4 is a count, not a score. A proven complete solution must meet four conditions. It works on dispersed particles across the whole system, covers nanoplastics below 1 µm, is shown outside the laboratory and does not simply move particles elsewhere8. No method meets all four for any system shown (level E)1. We searched Crossref, PubMed, agency pages and the web for 2016–2026, last on 3 November 2026. Prevention and local treatment are not judged by this count.

Local results are shown separately. In a pilot rapid sand filter at Zurich's waterworks, 99.5% of palladium-labeled model nanoplastics stayed in the top 0.9 m of sand (level C)9. A model of the full-scale plant, built on those tests, credits slow sand filtration with about 3 log units (99.9%) of removal. Retention is not destruction. The cards and methods are on Solutions by System, the findings per system on Evidence by System.

Where to go next

From Planet to Cell follows the particles from orbit down to a cell membrane. Four Microworlds shows air, water, soil and tissue as animated illustrations. How to Read the Numbers explains why particle counts and masses from different studies rarely compare directly, and Evidence Levels explains the A to E grades used here.

Illustration of sea spray bursting from a breaking wave and drifting over a dark grassy soil bank, low sun at upper leftIllustration
Illustration: spray from a breaking wave drifts as a fine haze over a dark coastal soil bank in low sun. Spray is one route by which particles at the sea surface become airborne; no individual particles are shown. Sizes and distances are illustrative.Illustration · AI generatedMade with FLUX.1-schnell (fp8, Comfy-Org/Flux-1-Schnell) · ComfyUI (local), tools/content/generate_l3.pySite illustration (AI-generated, Flux)Site original

Sources

  1. Thompson RC, Courtene-Jones W, Boucher J, Pahl S, Raubenheimer K, Koelmans AA (2024). Twenty years of microplastic pollution research—what have we learned?. Science. doi:10.1126/science.adl2746 review
  2. Thomas KV, Belz S, Booth AM, Clift MJD, Cross RK, Davies G et al. (2026). Communicating Confidence in the Reliability of Micro- and Nanoplastic Identification in Human Health Studies. Environment & Health. doi:10.1021/envhealth.5c00671 journal article
  3. NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (2025). Tremendous amount of plastic floats as nanoparticles in the ocean. NIOZ (with Utrecht University). www.nioz.nl/en/news/tremendous-amount-of-plastic-floats-as-nanoparticles-in-the-ocean press open access
  4. ten Hietbrink S, Materić D, Holzinger R, Groeskamp S, Niemann H (2025). Nanoplastic concentrations across the North Atlantic. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09218-1 journal article
  5. OECD (2022). Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options. OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/de747aef-en report open access
  6. Evangelou I, Bucci S, Stohl A (2026). Atmospheric microplastic emissions from land and ocean. Nature. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09998-6 journal article
  7. Nanoplastics planetary observatory (2026). Home counter model of the Nanoplastics planetary observatory: v6 script (NP object) and v7 specification (counter-model.json). Nanoplastics planetary observatory (site methodology record). Download from this site site record open access
  8. Nanoplastics planetary observatory (2026). Editorial decisions record and complete-solution criterion of the Nanoplastics planetary observatory. Nanoplastics planetary observatory (site editorial record). Methods record on this site site record open access
  9. Pulido-Reyes G, Magherini L, Bianco C, Sethi R, von Gunten U, Kaegi R et al. (2022). Nanoplastics removal during drinking water treatment: Laboratory- and pilot-scale experiments and modeling. Journal of Hazardous Materials. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129011 journal article

Evidence levels and provenance

AConsensusUsed on this page
Multiple independent studies or a systematic review plus a statement by a scientific body.
BWell supportedUsed on this page
Several independent studies with concordant findings.
CLimitedUsed on this page
Few studies, narrow conditions, or methodological caveats.
DDisputed
Conflicting results; both sides are shown.
EUnknownUsed on this page
No reliable evidence found; the search scope is stated.
PProvenanceUsed on this page
Provenance: checked against the primary record. A separate category, not an evidence grade: used for bibliographic facts, legal texts, official metadata, definitions quoted from a standard, the site's own arithmetic and statements about the site's process.

Editorial categories of this site. A–E grade scientific findings, per claim, with a one-line rationale; D and E are not lower rungs of the A–C scale. P is not a grade: it marks facts checked against their primary record.