Microplastics reach the ice giants of Forni and Miage, two of the most important and extensive glaciers in the Alps, between Lombardy and Valle d'Aosta: the new evidence emerges from samples collected last summer by Greenpeace Italy and analyzed thanks to the support of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policies of the University of Milan and the Department for Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition (Disste) of the University of Eastern Piedmont.
The results show that contamination affects 80% of the samples taken on the Forni glacier and 60% of those collected on the Miage glacier. Of the microplastics identified, i.e. all plastic particles smaller than one millimetre, fibres account for more than 70% of the contamination footprint. Specifically, cellophane is the predominant polymer (55%), followed by polyethylene-polypropylene (35%) and nylon (10%).
"The analyses confirm that microplastic contamination is now ubiquitous and widespread even on Italian glaciers," says Marco Parolini, professor of ecology at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policies of the University of Milan. This evidence is particularly important at a time when rising global temperatures can lead to the release of immobilised pollutants into melting glaciers, contributing to contamination of downstream aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems."
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