Research into microplastics in aquatic environments has rapidly increased over the last 15 years. We now know microplastics are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and have been reported from the deep ocean trenches, ice in Antarctica, and remote alpine lakes. They can be ingested by a wide range of organisms and toxicology studies have shown they can influence growth, reproduction and survival. Despite these advancements we still lack a range of basic information that can help us predict what anthropogenic and environmental factors are important in predicting microplastic contamination. In this talk I will present results from two studies exploring how microplastic contamination varies in systems with types of landuse and the role of storm events in mobilising microplastics. I will then briefly touch on preliminary work investigating how microplasitcs may be influencing the planktonic community structure.