Microfibers causing problems on Great Lakes

While an undergraduate student at Valparaiso University in Indiana, Eddie Kostelnik and his peers researched a small pollutant causing big problems for the Great Lakes.

The culprit: microfibers. Microfibers are plastic strings much thinner than human hair that get into waterways primarily from washing fabrics in machines.

The researchers wondered if the pollutant was found in algae and asked the U.S. Geological Survey to look at the agency’s samples from a separate research project.