Microplastic Fragment
Weathered plastic
Markings and exact colorations may vary.
Small, brittle, sun-bleached plastic shards, the end state of every bottle and bag that reaches the sea.
- Typical size
- 0.04–0.5 in
- How often it turns up
- Very common
- Collecting
- Usually legal to collect
- Handling
- Safe to handle
Collect and bin. A logged handful is real data for shoreline monitoring.
How to tell it apart
- Irregular angular shards under half an inch
- Chalky, faded colours
- Snaps rather than bends
Found one?
Photograph it and BeachNut ranks the likely matches with a confidence read, then logs it to your collection with the beach and date.
Browsing beaches and the full field guide is free. A free account logs unlimited finds and gives you three photo identifications a day.
More marine debris in the field guide
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