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<\/p>\nAirborne plastic particles, particularly colorful ones, absorb more sunlight than they reflect, which can heat the surrounding air, according to a new study<\/p>\n
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Sara Hashemi<\/a><\/p>\n | Daily Correspondent<\/p>\n May 12, 2026<\/p>\n Microplastics are particles smaller than five millimeters in length, or narrower than a pencil-tip eraser.\u00a0 No corner of the Earth seems to be safe from tiny particles of plastic. They\u2019ve been found in our\u00a0lakes<\/a>,\u00a0soil<\/a> and food<\/a>, and they even float in the air<\/a>, traveling across the globe. Now, new research suggests that microplastics swirling in the atmosphere are contributing to the warming of our world.<\/p>\n Colorful bits absorb more sunlight than they reflect, which can heat the surrounding air, researchers report May 4 in the journal\u00a0Nature Climate Change<\/a>. The findings suggest that airborne plastic particles might play a larger role in climate change than previously thought, and that they should be more widely included in climate assessments.<\/p>\n \u201cThis article shows a very worrying truth about the dangers of micro- and nanoplastics,\u201d says\u00a0Steve Allen<\/a>, a microplastics researcher at the environmental advocacy organization Healthy Earth, to Scientific American<\/a>\u2019s Jackie Flynn Mogensen. Allen was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n Plastic particles less than five millimeters long, or smaller than a pencil-top eraser, are considered microplastics. Even tinier pieces, less than one micrometer long, or narrower than a hair strand\u2019s width, are called nanoplastics. They mostly come from the breakdown of plastics in textiles, tires and other consumer products<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although researchers have been looking into their effects on human health<\/a> and the environment<\/a>, they weren\u2019t sure whether atmospheric plastics could influence climate change.<\/p>\n So the researchers behind the new work examined how various particle characteristics\u2014including size, color, chemical composition and aging\u2014might influence the plastic bits\u2019 interactions with sunlight. In a lab, they measured what happened when micro- and nanoplastics were exposed to different wavelengths of light, revealing that color plays a major role.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack, yellow, blue and red [particles] absorb sunlight much more strongly than the white particles,\u201d said study co-author\u00a0Yu Liu<\/a>, an environmental scientist at Fudan University in China, during a press conference, as reported by the\u00a0Washington Post<\/a>\u2019s Brady Dennis.<\/p>\n In fact, at a wavelength of light that looks green to humans, colorful particles absorbed light at levels almost 75 times higher than nonpigmented pieces, the team found. After color, size also seemed to be important. Analyses revealed that tinier plastic bits absorbed and scattered light more strongly at shorter wavelengths, then dropped off at longer wavelengths, while bigger particles showed a broader, more gradual pattern of interaction across wavelengths.<\/p>\n Quick fact: Macroplastics cause issues too<\/p>\n Plastic pieces that are five millimeters long and larger, considered macroplastics<\/a>, are hurting animals. They can block or slice a creature\u2019s organs or cause its digestive tract to twist. In a study published last year, researchers found that a small seabird, such as an Atlantic puffin, has a 90 percent chance of death<\/a> after eating only three sugar cubes\u2019 worth of macroplastics.<\/p>\n Combining this information with computer simulations of worldwide airborne microplastics revealed how big a role the particles might play in climate change. Their impact on global warming may amount to roughly one-sixth that of black carbon, or soot, a major component of air pollution, primarily produced by burning fossil fuels, the team found. That\u2019s a \u201csubstantial fraction,\u201d the study authors write, given that plastic particles are a pollutant class that hasn\u2019t been widely included in climate assessments.<\/p>\n \u201cThese findings suggest that airborne microplastics and nanoplastics are not just an environmental contamination issue, but potentially an emerging climate factor,\u201d writes Gilberto Binda<\/a>, a microplastics researcher at the University of Insubria in Italy who was not involved in the study, in an accompanying article<\/a> in Nature Climate Change. However, researchers lack comprehensive data on plastic concentrations in the atmosphere, particle sizes, chemical makeup and other factors that might contribute to sunlight interactions, he notes, so \u201cmajor uncertainties remain.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, while the work was interesting, it wasn\u2019t conducted in a real-world setting, says\u00a0Ria Devereux<\/a>, a microplastics researcher\u00a0at the University of East London, who also wasn\u2019t involved in the study. \u201cThe laboratory conditions used were simpler than in the real world as plastics break down in more complex interconnected ways not just from [ultraviolet light], but from humidity, chemicals, wave action to name a few,\u201d she says in a\u00a0commentary<\/a>\u00a0compiled by the Science Media Centre.<\/p>\n Even though microplastics\u2019 effects on the climate aren\u2019t fully understood, experts say that the pollutant\u2019s\u00a0threats to human health and impact on the environment already show we need to curb it.<\/p>\n![\"Colorful](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/microplastics.jpg\")
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