"Microplastics" collected from Tokyo Bay

Some "microplastics" or tiny plastic beads collected by Hideshige Takada, a professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, from Tokyo Bay in 2013 are displayed in this file photo taken on Jan. 19, 2015. Discarded plastic pieces, reduced to less than 5 millimeters in size by ultraviolet rays and waves, are feared to affect the ecological system through the food chain. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo