✓ What it's good for
Which sites likely release more. Relative ranking between sites is the model's most reliable output.
Rough order of magnitude. Whether we're talking thousands, millions, or billions of items per year.
Where the uncertainty lives. Moving the sliders shows which assumption drives the result most — a genuine research insight.
✕ What it can't do
Not an exact count. Concentration alone spans 0–382 items/L — a ~100× spread — so the point figure is illustrative, not measured.
Not confirmed plastic. Particles counted under a light microscope are suspected microplastics; confirming needs FT-IR / Raman.
Not actual environmental release. Lined/capped landfills capture and treat leachate — real release may be far lower or routed elsewhere.
Items ≠ impact. A 4mm fragment and a 20µm particle each count as one "item," though their mass differs enormously.