San Jose Mercury News highlights the findings of an SFEI microplastics report

On October 2nd, 2019, Paul Rogers released an article in the San Jose Mercury News regarding this microplastics study, in which he asserted, "The three-year study found that billions of pieces of “microplastic” — particles smaller than 5 millimeters each, or roughly the size of a pencil eraser — pour through the Bay Area’s 40 sewage treatment plants every year. The particles come from synthetic fibers in clothing, like fleece jackets that shed in washing machines or baby wipes flushed down toilets, and then wash down sewer pipes, pass through treatment plant filters and empty into bay waters.

"But 300 times more of the relentless toxic confetti, the study revealed, comes from storm drains, the largest source of the particles. The drains collect plastic litter from roads, foam food packaging, rubber bits from car tires, and other sources, and deliver the debris to creeks and the bay, especially during wet winter months, where it breaks down but never fully disappears."