In June, more than 2,000 volunteers participated in the 2024 Global Ocean Cleanup campaign and netted nearly 40 tonnes of plastic debris from just some 80 kilometres of ocean and coasts across the world, including sites from Vietnam to California. Although representing one week's hard work for the volunteers, such initiatives are a drop in the ocean of plastic waste that is generated each year - about 400 million tonnes, equivalent to the weight of all adult humans currently on Earth.
Yet one aspect is often overlooked: the communities of microbes hosted by plastic debris, which form the 'plastisphere'. Initial studies suggest that this human-made habitat serves as a widespread, mobile reservoir of various microbial hazards such as pathogens - yet little else is known.
As scientists working on the environmental and health implications of plastic pollution, we urge both the public and private sectors to map plastisphere microbiomes, to understand how they interact with existing ecosystems, assess the risk they pose to humans and ecosystems, and develop mitigation strategies.
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