Microplastics are the breakdown products of the plastic objects we use in everyday life – wrappings, packaging, bottles, synthetic clothing, and kitchen ware, for example. None of these plastics is biodegradable but, in the presence of sunlight and normal environmental conditions, they perish into small fragments that find their way into the oceans, rivers, foods, drinking water and even the blood of humans and other animals. They are one of the world’s biggest environmental problems because, once dispersed, they are very difficult to remove.