Plastic waste in the oceans and other natural environments is a major problem. This picture was taken at a small island in the Bohuslän archipelago during the summer of 2021. Mixed with seaweed and pieces of wood, these plastic pellets were found. In this case they were large enough to see with the naked eye. Microplastics is otherwise defined as pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm, and most are less than 1 mm. Unfortunately it is not always easy to determine if a particle is microplastics or, for example, algae. Industridoktorn can help with identification of unknown plastics, using FTIR and melting point characterization. We can also quantify the amount of microplastics in water by filtration and other techniques.