Together with colleagues from the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Senckenberg scientists Serena Abel and Angelika Brandt examined sediment samples from the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench for the presence of microplastics. In their study, which was recently published in Environmental Pollution, the researchers show that 1 kilogram of sediment contains between 14 and 209 microplastic particles. Overall, the team was able to document 15 different types of plastics in the samples.