Microplastic removal from a Plattsburgh beach

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) - Aude Lochet is the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Institute 's outreach specialist

Lochet and research assistant Amelie Przedwiecki are sifting through the sand, looking for plastics the size of a pencil eraser or smaller.

"It's easy to notice the big plastics, but it's really hard to notice the little microplastics, so if we clean up the microplastics, we can make a little bit of a difference," said Przedwiecki.

The institute is a collaboration between UVM and SUNY Plattsburgh to research and care for Lake Champlain.

Lochet and Przedwecki get their hands dirty and shoes wet; digging, looking, and poking through the top inch of sand in one square-meter spaces. The process is quicker if the sand is dry.

Microplastics can leach toxic chemicals into the earth or animals can accidentally eat them. Sometimes, they confuse even experts like Lochet. Microplastics have been found in all kinds of living things but they don't appear out of nowhere. Lochet and Przedwiecki say it's helpful to pick up full-size plastics, such as water bottles, before they break down.

"The smaller the plastic gets, the harder it is to get rid of them," explains Lochet.

Besides improving the environment, Lochet wants to study the types of microplastics she and Przedwiecki find and contribute the data to the marine debris tracker app for citizen science.

"It's not because we don't see them that they don't have an impact. Often when we don't see things, they are not of concern," said Przedwecki.

Lochet says microplastics are too small to recycle, but at least they'LL be in a landfill and not a public beach.