Microplastics are present at both the highest and deepest points on Earth. The tiny pieces of plastic had previously been discovered in the 11-kilometre-deep Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean and have now been detected on Mount Everest. This is the first time that microplastics, bits of plastic less than 5 millimetres across that can come from the breakdown of larger items, have been detected on Everest. Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even frozen excrement have long littered the well-trodden route to the 8,848-metre (29,029-feet) high summit, earning it the name of “the highest dumpster in the world”.
“Over the past few years, we have found microplastics in samples collected all over the planet – from the Arctic to our rivers and the deep seas. With that in mind, finding microplastics near the summit of Mount Everest is a timely reminder that we need to do more to protect our environment,” Imogen Napper, a National Geographic explorer and marine scientist from the University of Plymouth, said in a statement.
But in the first study of microplastics on Everest, by a research team part of the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, the tiny pollutants were found as high as 8,440 metres above sea level, although concentration levels were higher at the mountain’s base camp. The findings, which reveal the potential threat to Everest posed by plastic pollutants, were published in the environmental journal One Earth recently.
The study also suggests it is possible that microplastics found on Everest are blown there from elsewhere in the strong Himalayan winds. Researchers also found microplastics in streams below the famous Himalayan peak, but the concentration was lower than in snow.
Microplastics have been discovered in the deepest parts of the ocean, including in the Mariana Trench 36,000 feet below the surface of the sea, but this is the first time they’ve been discovered on Everest. The plastic pollution poses an ecological threat as aquatic life and birds can mistake microplastics for food.
