Michigan announces first Microplastics Awareness Week, Oct. 19-26

EGLE invites Michiganders to learn, act, and help protect the Great Lakes from tiny plastic pollution

LANSING, Michigan – A big challenge to the health of the Great Lakes takes a tiny form: microplastics. These plastic particles – smaller than 5 millimeters – can be found in Michigan’s lakes, rivers, drinking water, wildlife, and even the air.

To raise awareness of this growing concern, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) presents Michigan’s first-ever Microplastics Awareness Week, Oct. 19-26. Michiganders, businesses, and community organizations are invited to learn about microplastics, participate in cleanups and prevention, and explore ways to reduce plastic use at home and work. Governor Gretchen Whitmer dedicated the week in a proclamation.

“Microplastics are a global issue that touches every part of Michigan, from our most remote inland lakes to our busiest cities,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos. “This week is about empowering people with knowledge and actions that make a real difference in keeping our waters clean and healthy for generations to come.”

Learning, action, and collaboration

The week features opportunities for the public to learn about microplastics, participate in cleanups, and discover practical solutions to reduce plastic waste.

A highlight is the first-ever virtual Great Lakes Microplastics Summit, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 22, presented by EGLE and open to researchers, environmental advocates, and anyone curious about the topic.

The summit will bring together scientists, policymakers, and community members to discuss microplastics in surface water and drinking water and address questions like where microplastics go, how we detect them, what risks they present, and how they interact with the environment. The summit webpage includes a link for free registration.

Other key opportunities, events, actions, and resources include:

• Lake-by-lake data from The Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup showing the different types and relative amounts of plastic in each Great Lake. The website includes information on cleanup events throughout the state.
• The Alliance for the Great Lakes’ Plastic Free Great Lakes Toolkit, which includes solutions, tools, and resources to help reduce plastic pollution.
• Exploring opportunities at home such as switching to reusable bags and bottles, limiting single-use plastics whenever possible, and installing washing machine filters to reduce microfibers.
• Microplastics webinars from the International Joint Commission and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Environmental Health Matters Initiative focusing on the monitoring, ecological risk assessment, and management of microplastics in the Great Lakes; and human exposure and health effects of microplastics in the environment.
• Community action and regional advocacy to remove and prevent debris in the Great Lakes watershed through the Great Lakes Love organization and its goal of picking up 1 million pieces of trash.
• Joining a cleanup effort. In Lansing, the Michigan Waterways Stewards’ Autumn Anew Capital City Region Cleanup takes place Oct. 17-19 to help protect Lansing’s waterways from litter and pollution to ensure a healthy habitat for fish and wildlife.
• Learning how to help prevent marine debris from entering the environment through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program.
• Learning more about microplastics on EGLE’s Microplastics webpage.

EGLE is ramping up its microplastics research and monitoring with a one-time $2 million state appropriation over five years (2025-29) to better understand their distribution and impacts in Michigan’s surface and drinking waters. The work includes EGLE’s Office of the Great Lakes and one new hire each in EGLE’s Water Resources Division and Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division.

Their efforts will include incorporating microplastics sampling into existing river and stream monitoring programs, studying the occurrence of microplastics in public drinking water supplies, supporting innovative research with grant opportunities, and developing a statewide microplastics strategy to guide policies, monitoring, education, and prevention.

About microplastics in Michigan

Microplastics are present in Michigan’s water, soil, air, and wildlife — including fish, birds, and mussels. Modeling studies estimate that 10,000 metric tons of plastic enter the Great Lakes each year.

Microplastics’ many forms include beads, fragments, pellets, film, foam, and fibers. They can be created when larger plastic items break up in sun and wave action over time, or they can be intentionally manufactured, as in microbeads and pellets.

Studies in the five Great Lakes have shown that larger amounts of microplastics are found close to urban and nearshore areas, particularly near locations where rivers, storm drains, and wastewater treatment systems discharge. Greater amounts have been found in lakes Erie and Ontario, which are smaller and have larger urban populations.

While researchers are still learning how microplastics may affect human and ecosystem health, scientists suspect that these particles can absorb and release harmful chemicals and may impact the development and reproduction of aquatic species.

Global plastic production is expected to only increase in the coming years. The research, communications, and planning efforts of EGLE and others are imperative to preparing for the challenges ahead.