The presence of microplastics in nature is a serious problem with possible drastic consequences. According to the UN body dealing with environmental issues, UNEP, the Mediterranean Sea is the most polluted sea in Europe with a presence of about 64 million particles per square kilometre (UNEP, 2023). Microplastics are not only found in water, as the study An underestimated threat: Land-based pollution with microplastics estimates that soil is 4 to 23 times more polluted than water. Microplastics are a serious threat to human health, and a study by the University of Amsterdam has found their presence in human blood.

Through the Microplastics Directive, the European Union is intervening to limit the problem. In particular, the EU defined criteria and methods for measuring microplastics to limit their release into the environment at the beginning of 2024.

Thanks to the device designed and patented by Polygone, an American startup born among the benches of Princeton University that has won numerous international awards, Sea the Change allows companies and reclamation consortia to intervene against the problem by providing for the analysis and recovery of microplastics in the basins of Italy.