by Matteo Cavallito<\/p>\n
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French soils are widely prone to contamination by microplastics<\/strong>, a phenomenon that affects roughly three out of four soils. This is the most significant figure contained in the report<\/a> released by ADEME<\/strong> (Agence de l’environnement et de la ma\u00eetrise de l’\u00e9nergie), the Paris-based Agency for Ecological Transition. The research looked at different environments and identified a large presence of polyethylene particles, the most common plastic.<\/p>\n About 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated worldwide each year, the authors explain<\/a>. 3.7 million of this comes from France, 29.5 million from Europe<\/strong>. Most of this waste ends up in the oceans, with an estimated annual contamination of between 4 and 15 million tons. The spread of particles, however, is certainly not limited to aquatic environments.<\/p>\n