The 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 Italia and analyzed thanks to support 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. Among the microplastics identified, i.e. all plastic particles smaller than one millimetre, fibers represent over 70% of the contamination footprint. Specifically, cellophane is the prevalent polymer (55%), followed by polyethylene-polypropylene (35%) and nylon (10%).
“The analyzes confirm that contamination by microplastics is now ubiquitous and widely spread 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 in a historical period in which the increase in global temperatures can lead to the release of pollutants immobilized within melting glaciers, contributing to contaminating the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems found downstream”.
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