The dark side of artificial greening: Plastic turfs as widespread pollutants of aquatic environments

The presence of artificial turf fibers was specifically investigated in river and sea surface waters.A rtificial turf fibers accounted for up to 15% of meso- and macroplastic abundance.  Artificial turf fibers were composed of polyethylene (86.3%) and polypropylene (13.7%). Up to 20,000 fibers day⁻¹ and 213,200 fibers km⁻² were found in river and sea surface waters. Riverine flux of artificial turf fibers was positively related to rainfall.