A new study found that flowing within the Susquehanna River and other streams and rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are tiny plastic particles that infiltrate drinking water and damage the health of both humans and creatures alike.
"If we want to protect our environment and our health from this toxic threat, we need to cut plastic pollution off at the source and change the way society deals with our waste,” said Flora Cardoni, deputy director of PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center.
Standing on the bank of the Susquehanna in Pittston, Cardoni released the environmental advocacy nonprofit's "Microplastics in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed" report. She was flanked by local environmental advocates.
"The staggering amount of microplastics we found likely means that no river or lake or stream in the watershed is safe from this increasingly common contaminant," she said. "It's only with the leadership of our elected officials and a comprehensive strategy that we'll be able to tackle the problem of plastics and microplastics that are overrunning our environment.”
Americans generate over 35 million tons of plastic waste every year and it’s estimated that less than 6% of plastic is recycled, according to the report.
The report also estimates that "on average, humans ingest 5 grams of plastic every week, roughly equivalent to the weight of a credit card or single-use plastic bag.”
Because microplastics are found everywhere, Cardoni said.
"It's growing increasingly hard to ignore," she said.
Testing the waters
The Philadelphia-based PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center says it works to make sure all Pennsylvanians have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, protected public lands to enjoy and a safe and livable planet to call home.
Cardoni said microplastics come from litter, waste in landfills and incinerators. The tiny particles also come from clothing made from synthetic fibers after they're worn or washed, cosmetic products and the plastic pellets that plastic products are made from.
Plastic does not biodegrade, Cardoni said.
"While an apple core or a piece of paper breaks down over time into organic parts, plastic doesn't do that," she said.
Plastic just becomes smaller and smaller tiny synthetic plastic particles, some microscopic.
Over 100,000 rivers and streams flow into the bay from across the six states that the watershed encompasses, according to the report. The region is home to 18 million people. The bay is the largest estuary in the United States. The Susquehanna River is the bay’s largest tributary.
Citizen scientists worked with the nonprofit and collected 90 water samples from 15 sites in both urban and rural areas along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The samples were collected between April 2024 and October 2026.
The samples were analyzed at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia and the PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center offices.
PennEnvironment looked for four different types of microplastics: fibers, films, fragments and micro beads, Cardoni said.
The samples revealed:
- Microplastic fibers were found in every single waterway tested within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
- Film from flexible plastics, including plastic bags and packaging were found in 47% of the waterways sampled, including the Susquehanna River.
- Plastic fragments, from items like bottles, containers or tires, were found in 93% of the waterways sampled, also including the Susquehanna.
- Microbeads were in 27% of the waterways sampled. They were not found in the Upper Susquehanna River, but were found where the river flows through Dauphin County near Harrisburg.
'Turn off the faucet on plastic'
Scientific evidence shows that microplastics and other forms of plastic pollution pose a threat to human health and the environment, Cardoni said. They also attract toxins that are already in waterways, like lead, mercury and PFAS — often called "forever chemicals."
"And again, this is especially concerning with millions of people getting their drinking water from this vital watershed,” she said.
Josephine Gingerich is the Health Advocacy Outreach Coordinator for Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. She joined the group near the Susquehanna River.
She said exposure to microplastics can disrupt the body’s endocrine system and cause reproductive disorders and cancers.
"We need to turn off the faucet on plastic,” she said
How to help
Cardoni outlined some ways that microplastic contamination could be reduced, including:
- Changing the way that society produces and markets plastic products that consumers use and buy.
- Make the creators of the environmental hazard take responsibility for the products that they put out in the marketplace, instead of asking consumers to figure out what to do with plastic waste.
- State officials should pass producer responsibility laws for plastic packaging.
- Local and state officials should continue to pass bans on plastic bags and other single-use plastics.
- Chesapeake Bay watershed states should ban the release of plastic pellets into waterways from these plastic facilities.
- Elected federal officials should pass the Plastics Pellet Free Waters Act to prevent polluters from directly releasing microplastics into the environment.
- Pennsylvania’s Clean Water Act permits should not allow companies to discharge any single plastic pellets into rivers and streams.
While Cardoni stressed that the pollution needs to be cut off at the source, she said that people’s individual choices, including opting to use reusable grocery bags, are helpful.
"You don't need to be an expert on the policy if you call up your elected official at every level and say you're concerned with plastic pollution, want them to do more to tackle single-use plastics, that would go a really long way," she said.
Gingerich also called for a ban on fracking in the Susquehanna River watershed. She said drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania contributes to much of the microplastic problem.
"Our number one focus to address plastic needs to be halting the majority of plastic and petrochemical production nationwide,” Gingerich said.
'Apathy takes over'
Bobby Hughes is executive director of Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR). He's also on the Chesapeake Bay Program Stakeholders' Advisory Committee.
The Susquehanna River flowed behind him in Pittston. He pointed out that there were five major anthracite mining disasters in the region that have caused legacy pollution and that 5,500 miles of streams are still impacted by mining.
Hughes said because of that history, “apathy takes over” and litter is often thrown on abandoned mine lands or in rivers, streams and on streets.
For 25 of EPCAMR’s 30-year-history, they have hosted community cleanups.
Hughes said not only have they picked up 8,922 tires, but they also collected bottles, milk jugs, iced tea containers and trash bags.
"They're going to break down and they're going to find their way into the stream, into the fish, into the the bottom feeders here in the river, whether it's the carp or some other species, and get into their fatty tissues or their bodies that we're going to have to, you know, really deal with sooner or later.” he said.
Rabbi Daniel Swartz is the executive director of the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life.
When he was seven years old, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire. The river was a dumping ground for industrial waste and repeatedly caught fire before the Clean Water Act was made law.
That disaster helped spark Swartz's lifelong passion for environmental activism.
He hopes the new members of U.S. Congress will strengthen environmental laws, including around microplastics.
“It may not be as in your face as a burning river, but this report should light a fire under us, nonetheless,” he said.
