Jun 24, 2026 · 24 min · 13 segments
The word “microplastics” appeared for the first time in 2004, coined by Richard Thompson, now a marine biology professor at the University of Plymouth. Over the past 22 years, microplastics have…
Francesco RegoliGuest
James ThomasHost
Heather LeslieGuest
Francesco Regoli, I'm Vice-Rector for Research at Politecnica, University of Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Microplastics, technically speaking, are plastic fragments smaller than five or one millimeters, depending on their origin.
We can distinguish basically two categories, the primary microplastics that are manufactured already small, especially in the past, such as the microbeads, which were used in cosmetics, industrial abrasives, etc.
And then we have the secondary microplastics, which are of greater ecological relevance.
They derive from the degradation of larger items to the action of sunlight or abrasion of waste.
Primary microplastics are intentionally designed for industrial, commercial and personal care products, while secondary microplastics are generated by the breakdown of larger plastic products into smaller pieces.
But on top of those, there's a third one, particularly harmful to the environment.
We also have, and this is extremely important, another category or another typology of microplastics, which is given by microfibers of textile origin.
And these are extremely important because microfibers are released continuously into the environment.
during all stages of production in the domestic environment when we use washing machines and considering that the world fiber production has greatly increased
that we have
still a linear economy with at least 80% of textiles that go to landfill without any recycling process.
If we think to the fast fashion economy, At this time, the intensive production and the continuous release of textile fibers is responsible for the evidence that this is the typology of microplastics that we find more frequently in environmental contexts.
The term microplastics was first coined in 2004 by Richard Thompson, now a marine biology professor at the University of Plymouth in the UK.
Francesco Regoli, I'm Vice-Rector for Research at Politecnica, University of Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Microplastics, technically speaking, are plastic fragments smaller than five or one millimeters, depending on their origin.
We can distinguish basically two categories, the primary microplastics that are manufactured already small, especially in the past, such as the microbeads, which were used in cosmetics, industrial abrasives, etc.
And then we have the secondary microplastics, which are of greater ecological relevance.
They derive from the degradation of larger items to the action of sunlight or abrasion of waste.
Primary microplastics are intentionally designed for industrial, commercial and personal care products, while secondary microplastics are generated by the breakdown of larger plastic products into smaller pieces.
But on top of those, there's a third one, particularly harmful to the environment.
We also have, and this is extremely important, another category or another typology of microplastics, which is given by microfibers of textile origin.
And these are extremely important because microfibers are released continuously into the environment.
during all stages of production in the domestic environment when we use washing machines and considering that the world fiber production has greatly increased
that we have
still a linear economy with at least 80% of textiles that go to landfill without any recycling process.
If we think to the fast fashion economy, At this time, the intensive production and the continuous release of textile fibers is responsible for the evidence that this is the typology of microplastics that we find more frequently in environmental contexts.
The term microplastics was first coined in 2004 by Richard Thompson, now a marine biology professor at the University of Plymouth in the UK.
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