No mountain high enough: Study finds plastic in 'clean' air | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 01, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 01, 2025
No mountain high enough: Study finds plastic in 'clean' air

Environment

BSS/AFP
22 December, 2021, 09:50 am
Last modified: 22 December, 2021, 09:54 am

Related News

  • More tax burdens on textiles, plastics, home appliances likely
  • China slaps anti-dumping duties on plastics from US, EU, Japan, Taiwan
  • Changing our habits can cut plastic use: Rizwana
  • 'Plastic exchange corner' launched in Ctg to combat pollution
  • Rizwana calls for a plastic-free mindset to tackle pollution

No mountain high enough: Study finds plastic in 'clean' air

There they tested 10,000 cubic metres of air per week between June and October of 2017 and found all samples contained microplastics

BSS/AFP
22 December, 2021, 09:50 am
Last modified: 22 December, 2021, 09:54 am
Photo :BSS/AFP
Photo :BSS/AFP

From Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, microplastics are everywhere - even high in the Earth's troposphere where wind speeds allow them to travel vast distances, a study showed Tuesday.

Microplastics are tiny fragments -- measuring less than 5 millimetres -- that come from packaging, clothing, vehicles and other sources and have been detected on land, in water and in the air.

Scientists from the French national research institute CNRS sampled air 2,877 metres above sea level at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees, a so-called "clean station" because of the limited influence exerted on it by the local climate and environment.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

There they tested 10,000 cubic metres of air per week between June and October of 2017 and found all samples contained microplastics.

Using weather data they calculated the trajectories of different air masses preceding each sample and discovered sources as far away as North Africa and North America.

The study's main author Steve Allen of Dalhousie University in Canada told AFP that the particles were able to travel such distances because they were able to reach great altitudes.

"Once it hits the troposphere, it's like a superfast highway," he said.

The research also points to microplastic sources in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

"The marine source is the most interesting," Allen said.

"Plastic leaving the ocean into the air that high -- it shows there is no eventual sink for this plastic," he said.

"It's just moving around and around in an indefinite cycle."

While the amounts of miroplastics in the samples at the Pic du Midi don't pose a health risk, study co-author Deonie Allen notes that the particles are small enough for humans to breathe in.

And she says their presence in a zone thought to be protected and far from pollution sources should give pause.

"It questions the relationship we have with plastic," she said, adding that the problem is global.

Allen said that it also shows that disposing of plastic by shipping it abroad is a flawed strategy.

"It's going to come back to you," he said.
 

Top News / World+Biz

mountain / plastic / air

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Illustration: TBS
    Tax-free income ceiling to be raised, slabs restructured
  • Infographic: TBS
    Govt targets Dec opening of Dhaka airport's 3rd terminal but Japanese consortium wants 2 more months
  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus returns to Dhaka on 1 June 2025, wrapping up his four-day official tour to Japan. Photo: Courtesy
    CA Yunus returns home wrapping up Japan tour

MOST VIEWED

  • BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
    BAT Bangladesh has to vacate Mohakhali HQ as SC rejects lease appeal
  • Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus speaks to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo on 29 May. Photo: Nikkei Asia
    Bangladesh ready to buy more US cotton, oil to reduce trade gap: Yunus
  • UCB approves 2024 financials, allocates entire profit to NPL provisions
    UCB approves 2024 financials, allocates entire profit to NPL provisions
  • Tax exemptions for key industries to go, sweeping tax hikes planned
    Tax exemptions for key industries to go, sweeping tax hikes planned
  • Matarbari 1,200MW coal-fired plant in Moheshkhali, Cox's Bazar. File Photo: Nupa Alam/TBS
    Supplier slapped with 5 conditions to unload rejected Matarbari coal shipment
  • US Embassy Dhaka. Picture: Courtesy
    Birth tourism not permitted on US visitor visa: US Embassy Dhaka

Related News

  • More tax burdens on textiles, plastics, home appliances likely
  • China slaps anti-dumping duties on plastics from US, EU, Japan, Taiwan
  • Changing our habits can cut plastic use: Rizwana
  • 'Plastic exchange corner' launched in Ctg to combat pollution
  • Rizwana calls for a plastic-free mindset to tackle pollution

Features

Babar Ali, Ikramul Hasan Shakil, and Wasfia Nazreen are leading a bold resurgence in Bangladeshi mountaineering, scaling eight-thousanders like Everest, Annapurna I, and K2. Photos: Collected

Back to 8000 metres: How Bangladesh’s mountaineers emerged from a decade-long pause

1d | Panorama
Photos: Courtesy

Behind the looks: Bangladeshi designers shaping celebrity fashion

1d | Mode
Photo collage of the sailors and their catch. Photos: Shahid Sarkar

Between sky and sea: The thrilling life afloat on a fishing ship

1d | Features
For hundreds of small fishermen living near this delicate area, sustainable fishing is a necessity for their survival. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain

World Ocean Day: Bangladesh’s ‘Silent Island’ provides a fisheries model for the future

2d | The Big Picture

More Videos from TBS

Fuel prices cut; effective from June 1

Fuel prices cut; effective from June 1

5h | TBS News Updates
News of The Day, 31 MAY 2025

News of The Day, 31 MAY 2025

8h | TBS News of the day
Which way will the job crisis take the Chinese young generation?

Which way will the job crisis take the Chinese young generation?

9h | Others
How Banglalink is implementing Veon DO 1440

How Banglalink is implementing Veon DO 1440

8h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net