Every minute, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic is dumped into the oceans. However, before reaching the sea, these debris embark on a long journey through the twists and turns of rivers and streams. The visible part of this pollution is striking, with spectacular images of waste accumulations on the banks of major Asian rivers. In comparison, Europe's rivers seem preserved. But when it comes to microplastics, invisible to the naked eye and the most dangerous to living organisms, all major European rivers are polluted, and at concentrations deemed 'alarming' by scientists. This is one of the main findings published on Monday, April 7, in a special issue of the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research, which gathers no fewer than 14 scientific articles dedicated to studying – from source to effects – plastic waste in the land-sea continuum in Europe.

These publications stem from the "Tara Microplastics" mission conducted in 2019. For seven months, the famous schooner of the Tara Ocean Foundation traveled up nine major European rivers: the Loire, the Seine, the Rhine, the Elbe, the Thames, the Ebro, the Rhône, the Tiber and the Garonne. During the expedition, nearly 2,700 samples were collected and analyzed in 19 laboratories by 40 researchers, coordinated by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

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