>In the Denmark study, scientists gathered thou-sands of worker bees, which are all female, from 19 apiaries—nine in the center of Copenhagen and 10 in suburban and rural areas beyond the city. The re-searchers collected bees directly from the interior of their hives in the spring, when colonies were building up. Because bees interact with plants, water, soil, and air—all areas where microplastics accumulate—they had abundant opportunity to encounter plastics. The collection team wore clothing made of natural fibers and took other precautions to avoid contaminating the sample bees.

The bees were frozen to euthanize them, then washed and scrubbed to remove the particles attached to their legs and bodies. Using a microscope and infrared light, the particles were then sorted by size, shape, and material type.

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