TORONTO – A new study of one of Canada’s most urbanized rivers suggests it dumps the equivalent of about 18 cars worth of microplastics into Lake Ontario every year, a finding that shocked the lead author and underscored efforts to cut down on pollution.

The peer-reviewed study published Thursday estimates the Don River basin flushes about 500 billion particles of microplastics, with a mass of about 36,000 kilograms, into the lake each year. That’s far more than the estimated 160 kilograms of larger plastic items.

“I was pretty shocked to see that levels that we see here are more on par with places that don’t have as good of waste management,” said co-author Chelsea Rochman, an expert on plastics pollution and associate professor at the University of Toronto.

Microplastics, no bigger th

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