Do you know about microplastics? These are small pieces of plastic that used to be part of a larger plastic piece of trash. Due to the energy of waves and sun it breaks down into small pieces that are taken up by animals in the ocean. Consider the food chain… Microplastics have been found as high as Mount Everest and as deep as the Mariana Trench (deepest part of the Earth’s oceans). The BPY fourth graders sieved the Van Saun Mill Brook and will be examining the sample for evidence of microplastics. Meanwhile they examined a sample from the Passaic River in Newark with tons of plastic pollution using stereo microscopes. You can help by reducing your use of plastic!