Plastitar: mix of tar and microplastics is new form of pollution, say scientists

Researchers in Canary Islands coin term for new type of marine pollution they say could be leaking toxic chemicals into oceans

The discovery came as a team of researchers were combing the shores of the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canaries. Time and again, set against the sparkling waters that lapped the Playa Grande, they spotted clumps of hardened tar, dotted with tiny, colourful fragments of plastic.

They swiftly realised that this combination of tar and microplastics - or plastitar" as they named it - was unlike any other plastic pollution they had seen.