Hamilton girls were willing and ready to engage their investigation of Papahua Reserve, Raglan. The day was glorious as PTC Trust organised for SCION scientists to lead us in the inquiry. Scientific inquiry entails observing, formulating questions, gathering evidence, collecting data, and drawing conclusions as we attempt to acquire a deeper understanding of the natural world we inhabit. Inquiry-based science is at the heart of the PTC Trust initiative as students both learnt and observed the effect microplastics have on our fragile environment.  

RNZ on 10th June 2025 reported that ‘scientists say microplastics are silently spreading from soils to salads to people.A review from Murdoch University in Western Australia has stressed that agricultural soils now hold around 23 times more microplastics than oceans or waterways. PhD candidate Joseph Boctor, who led the study, said the results were "scary" and "quite concerning"."It's not just abundant in soil, it gets uptaken by plants as well and that means our salad contains microplastics." Both microplastics and nanoplastics have now been found in lettuce, wheat and carrot crops.