Global data on microplastic pollution of freshwaters has been lacking until now. An international research team led by ECH member Katrin Attermeyer, limnologist at WasserCluster Lunz and the University of Vienna, has now collected data on a large scale for the first time. The results are sobering: plastic waste was found in all the lakes sampled, and in some lakes, such as Lake Maggiore in Italy and Lake Tahoe in the USA, more microplastics are found than in the world’s most polluted subtropical ocean.