Scientists camped out in a secluded region in the Pyrenees mountains found that the mountains, considered untouched and pristine, are actually contaminated with microplastics.

The Pyrenees Range straddles France and Spain, and the area in which the team from Strathclyde and Toulouse Universities spent five months researching is 120 kilometers from the nearest city, Toulouse.  Despite its distance, the researchers found that an average of 365 tiny plastic fragments or fibres settled on every square metre of land.

"It's astounding and worrying that so many particles were found in the Pyrenees field site," said Steve Allen, a researcher from Strathclyde University.  "It opens up the possibility that it's not only in the cities you are breathing this in, but it can travel quite some distance from the sources."

They determined that microplastics can travel more than 60 miles from their source.

"Plastic litter is an increasing global issue and one of the key environmental challenges we face on global scale," said Allen.

Microplastics have now been found everywhere in the world, from the deepest oceans to mountain peaks, and in the bellies of man and beast.  They're too small to be seen with the naked eye, always less than five millimeters and smaller.  Microplastics are shed from our clothing, shopping bags, and any other plastics as they break down in the environment.