Recycling plastic isn't working.
The figure most often cited is that only nine per cent of the world's plastic has ever been recycled. That statistic is taken from a 2017 study looking at how much plastic the world has thrown out from 1950 to 2015.
It's a lot: 6.3 billion tonnes, or the weight of nearly 54,000 CN Towers.
The 91 per cent of plastic that isn't recycled is mostly landfilled, burned and/or unaccounted for in the environment — a demoralizing statistic for people who diligently put their containers and plastic bottles into recycling bins.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/recycling-plastic-pollution-production-busan-treaty-1.7394438
Many disposable objects are made of black plastic, which has so far proven to be very hard to recycle. US scientists have devised a new method of recycling black polystyrene, however, simply using sunlight and an ingredient that's already present in the plastic.
https://newatlas.com/environment/polystyrene-carbon-black-sunlight/
bacterial-spores-degradable-living-plastic
Researchers have spent the last few years trying to find which type of plastic biodegrades the fastest in a marine environment as millions of tons of plastics find their way into our oceans every year. It turns out that a common bioplastic we've been using for over 100 years does, and they've learned how to accelerate that process.
Cellulose diacetate (CDA) is made from cellulose; a natural polymer found in plant cell walls, particularly in cotton or wood pulp. It's been around since the late 1800s and is used in everything from sunglasses frames to cigarette filters (its most common usage) to photography film and a million other things in our daily lives.
https://newatlas.com/environment/new-plastic-biodegrades-in-ocean-faster-than-paper/
Marine plastic waste is a huge problem, but non-profit the Ocean Cleanup has been taking a bite out of floating trash in oceans and rivers for the last few years. Now pop-rock band Coldplay is about to use some of that waste for a limited special edition of its forthcoming album.
The Ocean Cleanup's Boyan Slat with an EcoRecord, which is made using a mix of plastic waste recovered from a river in Guatemala and recycled plastic bottles instead of vinyl, and will be the headline act for a limited-edition release of Coldplay's upcoming albumThe Ocean
https://newatlas.com/environment/coldplay-ocean-cleanup-ecorecord-plastic/
That we have a huge plastic waste problem is clear, but there are numerous efforts to stem the tide while also cleaning up the mess. Nature is also joining the battle, and scientists have now identified a marine fungus at the plastic-devouring front line. The fungus, named Parengyodontium album, was found living with other marine organisms on samples of plastic trash drawn from the North Pacific Garbage Patch in December 2019 during the Ocean Cleanup's North Pacific Mission 3.
https://newatlas.com/environment/marine-fungus-breaks-down-polyethylene/
Scientists have demonstrated a creative solution to plastic pollution, one of our most pressing environmental problems. Plastic was embedded with spores of plastic-eating bacteria that are activated when dumped in landfill, biodegrading 90% of the material in five months. Weirder still, this actually made the plastic tougher and stronger during use.
https://newatlas.com/environment/plastic-embedded-bacteria-spores-degradable-tougher/
or a better tomorrow, we’re pushing for smarter plastic recycling solutions today. But can we believe them; could we believe Exxon?
Plastic Rain Is the New Acid Rain
mealworms-can-eat-toxic-styrofoam-and-still-be-safe-as-food-for-other-animals
Sea Mink recycled-plastic surfboard is, like, totally green
The Dirty Secret of Alternative Plastics. Time mag.
Disposable diapers are a huge source of global waste, largely because they're difficult to recycle. A new process, however, could salvage the "superabsorber" polymer utilized in the liners of those diapers – and yes, even if they're soiled.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ultraviolet-light-recycling-disposable-diaper-liners/
Organisms breaking down plastic. wiki
Years before Samsung and others started tackling microplastic from machine washes escaping into the environment, there was Slovenia-based PlanetCare. Now the company has announced its second-generation external filter.
Many of us wear clothing made from synthetic fabric such as polyester and acrylic. They inevitably get dirty or smelly during use, and when we pop them into the washing machine, tiny fibers break away as the clothing gets bashed and bounced around inside of the drum.
Figures suggest that the source of some 35% of microplastics in the world's oceans is the humble washing machine, with a team from Plymouth University in the UK finding that a single wash could release more than 700,000 tiny acrylic particles into the environment.
https://newatlas.com/around-the-home/planetcare-microplastic-filter-washing-machines/
When a microbe was found munching on a plastic bottle in a rubbish dump, it promised a recycling revolution. Now scientists are attempting to turbocharge those powers in a bid to solve our waste crisis. But will it work?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/plastic-eating-bacteria-enzyme-recycling-waste?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us.
Researchers have used a low-emissions method to harvest hydrogen and graphene from waste plastics. They say it not only solves environmental problems like plastic pollution and greenhouse gas production, but the value of the graphene by-product could offset the costs of producing hydrogen.
Hydrogen is used to power vehicles, generate electricity, and heat our homes and businesses. Hydrogen contains more energy per unit of weight than fossil fuels, which is important from an environmental standpoint as the main cause of global greenhouse gas emissions is the release of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.
https://newatlas.com/energy/low-emissions-flash-method-upcycles-waste-plastic-free-hydrogen/
The persistence of plastics in the environment is a global problem that may soon be alleviated by materials researchers at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. A new biodegradable material has been synthesized that could serve as a sustainable substitute for packaging needs commonly based on plastic.
https://insights.globalspec.com/article/20500/a-biodegradable-substitute-for-industrial-plasticsa>
Researchers may have found an effective, green way to remove microplastics from our water using readily available plant materials. Their device was found to capture up to 99.9% of a wide variety of microplastics known to pose a health risk to humans.
https://newatlas.com/environment/plant-materials-effectively-capture-water-microplastics/
Plastic is one of the most useful materials in our modern world, but unfortunately it’s also one of the worst in a sustainability sense. Now, scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a way to engineer bacteria to produce raw materials that can be made into plastics that are completely recyclable.
https://newatlas.com/materials/pdk-recyclable-plastic-bacteria/
Rich in vitamins and minerals, spirulina is a type of blue-green algae commonly used as a dietary supplement that you may have mixed into a drink as a powder or taken in a tablet when you were on a health kick. Now, researchers have used it to create a bioplastic that will degrade in your compost bin in the same amount of time it takes for a banana peel to break down.
We use plastics in many situations because they’re durable and cheap to make. But they’re also everywhere in the environment because they persist for years when we’re done with them. While bioplastics are a step in the right direction, they often have to be processed in commercial composting facilities, which aren’t accessible to everyone.
https://newatlas.com/materials/spirulina-based-bioplastic-strong-and-compostable/
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and plastic waste are two of the most pressing environmental problems facing the world today, but a device designed by Cambridge scientists may help tackle both at once. The team has demonstrated a new version of their solar reactor, which uses sunlight to convert CO2 and plastic bottles into useful chemicals. The Cambridge team unveiled a version of their solar reactor just six months ago. It was made up of two chambers, one that processed CO2 and the other plastic waste, with the whole thing powered by a perovskite solar cell. That version, however, only worked with concentrated CO2 from a cylinder, which is useful as a proof of concept but doesn’t necessarily apply to real-world settings.
https://newatlas.com/environment/cambridge-solar-reactor-plastic-waste-co2-useful-chemicals/
A new study has found that, globally, micro- and nanoplastics and plastic additives are widespread across our food supply. While we have an understanding of how they get there, we don’t know a lot about their effects on human health, food safety and security.
https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/every-stage-microplastics-enter-food/
Swiss scientists have discovered new cold-adapted microorganisms that can degrade different types of plastic at temperatures lower than currently required. The discovery is the first step towards developing a more cost-effective, industrial-scale method that could rid the planet of plastic pollution.
https://newatlas.com/materials/cold-adapted-microbes-digest-plastic-low-temperatures/
We use a massive five trillion plastic bags every year, and they’re in the top five of all plastic products found in the natural environment. However, paper doesn’t fare any better, with many studies including a 2020 UNEP report citing the environmental costs of the energy- and resource-intensive process that goes into producing the less durable plastic alternative.
https://newatlas.com/technology/strong-paper-bag-reused-biofuel/
As one of the most commonly used plastics in the world, polypropylene presents a global environmental problem because of issues related to its recycling. Researchers have developed a new way of breaking down this troublesome plastic by enlisting the help of a couple of common fungi.
Most plastics aren’t readily degradable and take decades to biodegrade, resulting in the pollution of land and marine ecosystems. One of those plastics, polypropylene (PP), is used in everything from plastic packaging to furnishing and toys. But in terms of plastic waste, PP is over-represented.
https://newatlas.com/materials/plastic-eating-fungi-solve-polypropylene-pollution-problem/
There’s no debate that microplastics present an ever-increasing ecological and health threat, with scientists just starting to understand the extent of these tiny particles and their impact on organisms, from marine life to humans. A 2019 study revealed that we're even ingesting about 5 grams of microplastic, the weight of a credit card, each week.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ultrasound-remove-microplastics-water-microfluidic/
In the midst of the pandemic in 2021, we were throwing out three million face masks per minute. Scientists sounded the alarm early, but the response to cope has seen a lot end up in our waterways.
https://newatlas.com/science/safe-upcycle-pandemic-plastics-carbon-dots/
Scientists have described a new disease called plasticosis, which is directly caused by – you guessed it – plastic waste in the environment. While the disease has so far only been identified in the digestive tracts of seabirds, the scale of the problem suggests it could be widespread in other species and different parts of the body.
https://newatlas.com/biology/plasticosis-new-disease-microplastics-birds/?
Greenhouse gases and plastic waste are two of the biggest environmental problems the world faces today. A new reactor from Cambridge is designed to tackle both at once, converting CO2 and used plastic bottles into useful materials, powered entirely by sunlight.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide is at its highest levels in millennia, leading to devastating climate consequences. Meanwhile, our reliance on plastic is causing a huge buildup of the stuff in rivers, oceans and everywhere from pole to pole. Research in both of these fields has led to scientists designing reactors that convert either captured CO2 or plastic waste into oils, fuels and other useful chemicals and materials.
https://newatlas.com/environment/solar-reactor-co2-plastic-waste-useful-products/
Microplastics are a growing environmental problem, but now researchers in Korea have developed a new water purification system that can filter out these tiny fragments, as well as other pollutants, very quickly and with high efficiency.
https://newatlas.com/environment/high-efficiency-water-filter-99-9-microplastics-10-seconds/
Plastic straws have become the poster child of waste lately, and most alternatives have their own issues. Now, a start-up called The Ice Guys is crowdfunding an intriguing solution that fights the plastic straw boogeyman and keeps your drinks cool at the same time – the Ice Straw.
https://newatlas.com/good-thinking/ice-straw-plastic-problem-drinks-cool/
Plastics are made to last, which is great while they’re being used but not so great after they’re discarded. Now chemists at the University of Konstanz have developed a new kind of plastic that has all the durability of regular plastic, but biodegrades within months or even days.
https://newatlas.com/materials/plastic-biodegradable-chemical-breaking-points/
If you've ever been turning over your compost heap and found months-old "compostable" plastic items that were still mostly intact – well, you're not alone. New research states that 60% of such plastics don't fully biodegrade in home composting systems.
The findings are the result of a study undertaken by scientists from University College London, which began with ordinary citizens from across the UK completing an online questionnaire regarding their habits and opinions relating to compostable plastic and food waste.
watlas.com/environment/home-compostable-plastics-dont-biodegrade/
The German government said Wednesday that it plans to make plastic manufacturers contribute to the cost of cleaning up litter in streets and parks.The Cabinet agreed on a bill that makers of products containing single-use plastic will need to pay into a central fund managed by the government, starting in 2025.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/germany-to-force-plastic-makers-to-help-pay-for-cleanups
We know that marine animals of all sizes are inadvertently consuming plastics as they move through the ocean, but what does this diet look like for the largest of them all? To answer this question, scientists at Stanford University have analyzed the foraging habits of whales off the coast of California and found that blue whales take in an estimated 10 million pieces of plastic each day.
https://newatlas.com/environment/stanford-study-blue-whales-10-million-microplastics-day/
No plastic is truly recyclable — not even the water bottles and milk jugs that people usually toss into their blue bins.
According to a new report released on Monday by Greenpeace USA, no plastic product meets a common industry standard for recyclability, even though they bear the familiar “chasing arrows” recycling symbol.
https://grist.org/accountability/380-million-tons-of-plastic-are-made-every-year-none-of-it-is-truly-recyclable/
Recycling plastics is far from a straightforward process, but a new report has laid bare the grim reality of the situation. Conducted by Greenpeace, the study looked at activity at a broad range of processing facilities across the US and found that the vast majority of plastic waste generated by households wound up in landfill, with only around 5% actually recycled.
https://newatlas.com/environment/plastic-recycling-a-myth-us-rates-5-percent/
Imagine if there were a robotic fish that filtered microplastic particles out of the water as it swam. Well, now there is one, and it's the physical version of the winning concept in the first-ever Natural Robotics Contest.
Announced this May, the University of Surrey's Natural Robots Contest invited members of the public to submit their ideas for animal- or plant-inspired robots capable of performing activities that would help the world.
https://newatlas.com/robotics/microplastics-robo-fish-natural-robotics-contest/
Plastic waste is one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time, and sorting different types makes recycling tricky. Now, engineers at MIT have developed an effective new catalyst that breaks down mixed plastics into propane, which can then be burned as fuel or used to make new plastic.
https://newatlas.com/materials/catalyst-mixed-plastic-waste-propane-recycle/
The search for new solutions to the growing problem of plastic pollution has led scientists to some interesting places that include the soils of a Japanese recycling center and the guts of superworms. These efforts have unearthed enzymes that can eat away plastic materials with high efficiency, and scientists in Spain have just discovered more in the saliva of wax worms, which have the ability to degrade plastic bags in hours at room temperature.
https://newatlas.com/environment/wax-worm-saliva-degrade-plastic-bag-hours/?
In a bid to reduce the environmental burden associated with both the manufacturing and disposal of plastics, scientists have demonstrated a new upcycling technique that turns one common form of it into another. The team says they also have the means to scale up and implement their technology, which they calculate could lead to massive reductions in global greenhouse emissions as a result.
https://newatlas.com/materials/recycling-breakthrough-common-plastics/
We already know that tiny waterborne plastic waste particles can enter the bodies of fish, which are then consumed by humans. New research, however, shows that such particles can enter the food chain via another route, by traveling from the land, through plants to insects to fish.
https://newatlas.com/environment/nanoplastics-plants-insects-fish/
Scientists have turned plastic into diamonds. Using high-powered lasers, the team zapped samples of PET, the common material used in plastic bottles, to produce intense heat and pressure to form tiny diamonds that may naturally rain down on planets like Uranus and Neptune.
https://newatlas.com/science/plastic-diamonds-uranus-rain-x-ray-laser/
VIEW GALLERY - 3 IMAGES
Marine plastic pollution is a major environmental problem, as exemplified by the enormous Great Pacific Garbage Patch. According to a new study conducted by the Ocean Cleanup project and Wageningen University, the majority of plastic waste in that patch comes from the fishing industry.
Located in the North Pacific Ocean, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) covers an area measuring approximately 1.6 million sq km (617,763 sq mi). It's made up of a roughly estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of floating plastic debris, with a total weight of around 88,000 tons (80,000 tonnes).
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-cleanup-project-great-pacific-garbage-fishing-gear/
Plastic pollution is a grave and growing concern, but the biggest problems that it poses may just come from its smallest forms. Tiny fragments of the stuff are now strewn across the entire globe and are beginning to show up in different parts of the human body. But what are the health risks associated with ingesting and inhaling this now omnipresent synthetic material? While early studies do offer some cause for concern, they also show there is much still to learn before we truly start to sound the alarm.
https://newatlas.com/medical/microplastic-pollution-plastics-human-health/
Scientists in the Netherlands studying the spread of plastic waste have turned their eye to meat and dairy products, and discovered high rates of contamination in farm animals. The findings shed new light on the way microplastics move through the food chain, and add extra impetus to better understand the ubiquitous material's potential effects on living organisms.
https://newatlas.com/environment/microplastics-meat-milk-blood-farm-animals/
While researchers continue to deepen our understanding of plastic contamination throughout the environment, much of the focus centers on marine organisms and of course humans themselves. Scientists in the UK have turned their eye to small land mammals and found traces of plastic in more than half the species sampled, with a seemingly equal distribution across locations and even dietary habits.
https://newatlas.com/environment/study-plastics-half-small-mammals/
es a lot for us still to learn about the dangers microplastics pose to the environment and the health of living organisms, but one thing is clear, their presence is widespread and only becoming more-so. Scientists have come up with a novel cleanup solution that takes its cues from nature, in the form of a fish-like robot that can move through the water and soak up small plastic pieces as it goes.
https://newatlas.com/environment/light-activated-fish-shaped-robot-microplastics/
Plastics are tough and versatile materials, which is great when they're in use but not so good when they end up in the environment. Scientists at EPFL have now developed a new PET-like plastic material derived from waste plant matter that can be chemically recycled or degrade into harmless sugars in the environment.
https://newatlas.com/materials/plant-based-plastic-recyclable-degradable-sugars/
Today's filtration technologies do a wonderful job of producing potable water, but the spread of plastic waste throughout the environment means there are new threats to contend with. A new study has investigated the performance of different techniques when it comes to removing nanoplastics from water, and shown that biologically active systems known as slow sand filters can remove the tiny particles with 99.9 percent efficacy.
https://newatlas.com/environment/slow-sand-filter-nanoplastics-drinking-water/
If humanity is ever going to curb our waste problem, we'll need to get creative with recycling and reusing materials. In a new study, researchers at Rice University and Ford's Research and Innovation Center have demonstrated how waste plastic from old cars could be used to make graphene foam that can then be used in new cars.
https://newatlas.com/materials/graphene-waste-plastics-old-cars-flash-recycle/
The evidence is starting to build around the ability of tiny fragments of plastic to make their way into all corners of the human body, with these particles recently discovered in living lungs and the bloodstream for the first time. What this means for our health is still a big unknown, but scientists have turned to trusty fruit flies as a model in search of answers to this question, tracking the particles through the intestinal tract to find they alter gene expression involved in stress response and oxidative damage.
https://newatlas.com/medical/fruit-fly-experiments-plastic-ingestion/
The sludge that is created through sewage treatment processes is rich in nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen, making it an excellent source of fertilizer for agriculture. But not all that it contains is good for the environment, with a new study demonstrating how the material acts as a vehicle for huge amounts of tiny plastic fragments to enter soils, so much so the authors suggest Europe's farms could be acting as the world's largest reservoir for microplastics pollution.
https://newatlas.com/environment/fertilizer-sewage-sludge-europe-farmlands-microplastic-reservoirs/
The idea of deploying enzymes to break down plastic waste is gaining momentum through a string of breakthroughs demonstrating how they can do so with increasing efficiency, and even reduce the material to simple molecules. A new study marks yet another step forward, with scientists leveraging machine learning to engineer an enzyme that degrades some forms of plastic in just 24 hours, with a stability that makes it well-suited to large-scale adoption.
https://newatlas.com/environment/fast-acting-enzyme-plastics-24-hours/
The way plastic moves through the environment and endangers living organisms is of great concern to scientists, and a first-of-a-kind study has unearthed disconcerting new information on both these fronts. The authors have demonstrated that the type of plastic particles shed through laundry cycles and use of cosmetic products can carry pathogens far out to sea and endanger marine life, reshaping natural food webs as a result.
https://newatlas.com/environment/microplastics-spread-land-pathogens-sea/
Getting a handle on the true dangers posed by the widespread problem of plastic pollution involves understanding the different ways it moves through the environment, including its migration into the human body. A new study has explored the ways everyday plastic products can facilitate this process, including single-use coffee cups, which were shown to release trillions of microscopic particles when exposed to hot water.
https://newatlas.com/science/coffee-cups-trillions-plastic-particles-normal-use/
Indian Ocean in May of 2021, Sri Lanka was terrified that the vessel's 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil would spill into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster for the country's pristine coral reefs and fishing industry.
Classified by the UN as Sri Lanka's "worst maritime disaster," the biggest impact was not caused by the heavy fuel oil. Nor was it the hazardous chemicals on board, which included nitric acid, caustic soda and methanol. The most "significant" harm, according to the UN, came from the spillage of 87 containers full of lentil-sized plastic pellets: nurdles.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/nurdles-the-worst-toxic-waste-you-ve-probably-never-heard-of
In the last decade we've seen studies unearth plastic pollution in some unexpected places, from the Arctic, to the Antarctic, and the world's tallest mountain in between. More recently, we've seen some scientists focus the search on the human body, which also continues to surprise and alarm with the whereabouts of omnipresent plastic particles. A new study has now revealed microplastics in living lung tissue for the first time, with scientists now looking to explore exactly what that means for respiratory health.
https://newatlas.com/medical/plastic-particles-discovered-deep-lungs/
Two of our biggest environmental problems are the tons of unusable plastic waste, and the tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) which are released into the atmosphere in smokestack emissions. A new process is claimed to use the former to trap the latter.
https://newatlas.com/environment/plastic-waste-sorbent-capture-carbon-dioxide/
Scientists are continuing to uncover the true extent of our plastic pollution problem, and increasingly we are seeing an emphasis placed on its potential effects on the human body. The latest development in this area comes from scientists in the Netherlands who have used novel analytical tools to produce the first evidence of plastic particles being absorbed into the bloodstream.
https://newatlas.com/medical/plastic-particles-human-bloodstream-first-time/
Over the past five years or so we've seen some important breakthroughs demonstrating how enzymes can be used to break down common plastics, such as the PET used for everything from drink bottles to shampoo containers. In pursuit of a circular economy for plastic waste, scientists have now discovered a new enzyme that further breaks down one of the key plastic building blocks left behind by this process, leaving simple molecules that can be repurposed for use in new products.
https://newatlas.com/environment/enzyme-tpado-plastic-simple-molecule/
The more we learn about the magnitude of plastic pollution contaminating the planet's rivers, oceans, and even its mountaintops, the more pressing the need becomes for wide-ranging and coordinated action. In what is being hailed as a historic day, global leaders at the UN Environmental Assembly have endorsed a first-of-a-kind resolution that addresses the full lifecycle of the material to reduce its growing impacts on the natural world.
https://newatlas.com/environment/united-nations-historic-global-resolution-end-plastic-pollution/
The omnipresent nature of plastic waste threatens the environment in all sorts of ways, particularly as it is broken down into tiny fragments known as microplastics. This includes contaminating soil through sources such as wastewater irrigation and sewage, and scientists in Germany are exploring an interesting solution to this problem, demonstrating how birch trees might be used to soak up the small plastic particles with their roots.
https://newatlas.com/environment/birch-trees-soak-microplastics-polluted-soil/
Recycling in the U.S. is broken. In 1960, Americans generated 2.68 pounds of garbage per day; by 2017, it had grown to an average of 4.51 pounds. And while many Americans dutifully put items into their recycling bins, much of it does not actually end up being recycled. This post will explain why, and talk about potential solutions.
where's the link?
The search for sustainable alternatives to common plastics has researchers investigating how their building blocks can be sourced from places other than petroleum, and for scientists behind a promising new study, this has led them straight to the sweet stuff. The team has produced a new form of plastic with "unprecedented" mechanical properties that are maintained throughout standard recycling processes, and managed to do so using sugar-derived materials as the starting point.
https://newatlas.com/materials/eco-friendly-plastics-sugars-unprecedented-properties/
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a problematic material, in that it's cheap and lightweight but also non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle. German scientists have developed a possible alternative, though – foam made out of popcorn.
https://newatlas.com/environment/popcorn-expanded-polystyrene-foam/
Five years ago, scientists digging through soil and sludge around a plastics recycling center in Japan discovered a bacterium that was feeding on the popular packaging material PET as an energy source, with help from a pair of purposely evolved enzymes. A fascinating discovery at the time, a new study has shown this to be part of a much wider trend in which such plastic-degrading enzymes are increasing in numbers and diversity in response to plastic pollution around the world.
https://newatlas.com/environment/microbes-enzymes-evolve-degrade-plastic-pollution/
With plastic waste turning up everywhere from Arctic snowfall to Antarctic sea ice, and the world's tallest mountain in between, we're seeing more researchers shift their gaze toward the potential impacts on human health. The latest discovery in this space looks at the volume of plastics we regularly consume through food and water and how this might impact human cells, finding that the concentrations we are exposed to can potentially have toxic effects.
https://newatlas.com/medical/first-study-plastic-toxic-effects-human-cells/
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a problematic material, in that it's cheap and lightweight but also non-biodegradable and difficult to recycle. German scientists have developed a possible alternative, though—foam made out of popcorn.
https://newatlas.com/environment/popcorn-expanded-polystyrene-foam/
With the amount of plastic swirling around in the ocean, wouldn't it be handy if the boats charged with cleaning it up could use the trash to fuel their own operations? A new study has crunched the numbers on such an approach and found that ships carrying reactors to convert the waste into "blue diesel" could indeed power themselves, which would reduce the need for trips back to shore and the associated burning of fossil fuels.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-cleanup-boats-plastic-blue-diesel-fuel/
We are seeing some promising advances in the world of plant-based plastics, and not just from research groups at the cutting edge of materials science, but from traditional purveyors of petroleum-based plastics like Lego and Pepsi. Coca Cola's latest moves in the area bring its first ever bottle made from 100 percent plant-based plastic to the table, produced with technology it says is ready to be scaled up.
https://newatlas.com/environment/coca-cola-plantbottle-plant-based-plastic/
Back in August, the Ocean Cleanup Project returned to the waters of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with a redesigned trash-collecting system that was its largest yet. This upsized approach appears to be paying some dividends, with System 002's final phase of testing hailed a success and marked by a "massive" haul of plastic waste.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-cleanup-supersized-system-002-test/
https://newatlas.com/environment/maritime-rope-microplastics-pollution/
https://newatlas.com/urban-transport/zuv-electric-cargo-trike-3d-printed-recycled-plastic-waste/
Since it first emerged with the bold vision of cleaning plastics from the seas way back in 2013, the Ocean Cleanup Project has made many tweaks to the design of its trash-catching barriers. The latest might be the most significant one yet, with the team switching from a passive design that relied on the forces of the ocean to one powered by active propulsion, which they see as a far more efficient way forward.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-cleanup-pacific-garbage-patch-jenny-active-propulsion/
We know that plastic pollution continues to build up in the ocean at alarming rates, and we know this poses a risk to the creatures that call it home, but scientists continue to dive into the complex interactions underlying this relationship. The latest study to shed light on this issue paints a startling picture of how the evolutionary habits of juvenile turtles lure them into the most polluted parts of the ocean, demonstrated by the discovery of plastic in the stomachs of young turtles around the coast of Australia.
https://newatlas.com/environment/baby-turtles-plastic-pollution-evolutionary-traps/
https://newatlas.com/environment/beach-cleaning-bebot-robot-trash/
https://newatlas.com/materials/five-forms-eco-friendly-plastic-break-fast/
By making alterations to the plastic manufacturing process, scientists hope to produce forms of the ubiquitous material that can break down far more safely and quickly in the environment than current versions do. Researchers in China have now demonstrated a new example of this that degrades in just a week when exposed to sunlight and oxygen, which they believe could make for electronics that are easier to dispose of at the end of their lives.
https://newatlas.com/materials/novel-plastic-disintegrates-week-sunlight-oxygen/
Researchers from the University of Cambridge created a plant-based, sustainable and scalable material that could replace single-use plastics in many consumer products. The polymer film was developed by mimicking the properties of spider silk, which is known as one of the strongest materials in nature.
https://insights.globalspec.com/article/16786/plant-based-material-could-replace-single-use-plastic
Central to the environmental damage caused by plastics is the length of time they take to break down, but researchers are starting to demonstrate how naturally occurring microbes could lend a helping hand. The latest example of this comes from scientists in Austria, who have discovered a set of enzymes in the stomach fluid of cows that can break down common plastics used in textiles and packaging.
https://newatlas.com/environment/stomach-fluid-cows-break-down-common-plastic/
https://newatlas.com/children/lego-first-bricks-recycled-plastic-bottles/
Developing forms of plastic that don't take centuries to break down after use is a common objective among eco-conscious material scientists, and lately we're seeing how bacteria might offer a helping hand. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have taken this idea one step further, by demonstrating how an engineered form of E. coli bacteria can be used to turn plastic bottles into vanillin, the primary compound of vanilla flavoring
https://newatlas.com/materials/bacteria-converts-pet-plastic-waste-vanilla-flavoring/
https://newatlas.com/materials/vegan-spider-silk-plant-based-plastic/
https://newatlas.com/environment/clearbot-razer-marine-plastic-trash-partnership/
https://newatlas.com/materials/plastics-embedded-enzymes-self-clean-destruct/
https://newatlas.com/environment/sea-squirts-microplastics/
While millions of tons of plastic are produced in the US each year, only around 9 percent is recycled, and that is largely due to the difficulties around reducing the material to useful building blocks for other products. A new chemical treatment developed by scientists at Washington State University (WSU) could help chip away at this problem—a treatment that's been demonstrated by turning the most commonly used plastic into jet fuel components within one hour
https://newatlas.com/energy/chemical-process-recycle-plastic-jet-fuel-wsu/
In most grocery stores, all of the fresh produce is either pre-wrapped in plastic film or it gets placed in plastic bags – both of which are often discarded by consumers. A new bioactive paper bag, however, could serve the same purpose while being easily recyclable.
https://newatlas.com/materials/recyclable-bioactive-paper-bag-food/
Modern scientific techniques are rapidly improving our understanding of how plastic pollution can impact marine organisms, and a new study has demonstrated how they can also be used to understand the plight of creatures past. Scientists have used museum collections to step back in time and study the guts of freshwater fish over the past century, which revealed not just that they've been swallowing plastic waste for decades, but that the concentration in their bellies has skyrocketed in recent times.
https://newatlas.com/environment/historical-fish-gut-study-plastic-1950/
he pervasive nature of plastic pollution makes it an incredibly difficult problem to tackle, but lately we're seeing how microscopic organisms might offer us a helping hand. This has included the discoveries of bacterium that can quickly break down common plastics like PET, or enzymes that can be embedded in plastics to make them biodegrade in days after use. Another example comes from researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who have devised a method of trapping tiny plastic particles using a sticky bacterial biofilm.
https://newatlas.com/environment/bacterial-biofilm-microplastics-recycling/
Plastic is a major environmental issue, since most of it doesn't break down easily—and even when it does, it usually forms microplastic pieces that pose their own problems. A new type of compostable plastic is embedded with enzymes that, when triggered, quickly break the material down to its constituent molecules.
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A growing body of research has started to illuminate the widespread impacts of plastic pollution, and the downstream effects of it on the environment and human health. A new study has delved into the kind of damage microplastics can cause to human lungs, with researchers observing changes to the shape of lung cells and a slowdown in their metabolism when exposed to these tiny plastic particles.
https://newatlas.com/science/microplastics-alter-shape-de-cluster-human-lung-cells/
Like most other commonly used types of plastic, polyurethane is typically made from non-renewable crude oil, and it takes centuries to break down when discarded. Now, however, scientists have created a biodegradable polyurethane-like polymer using fish waste.
https://newatlas.com/environment/biodegradable-polyurethane-fisheries-waste/
Motivated by our growing problem with plastics, which are environmentally damaging both to produce and after they're disposed of, scientists are tinkering away with more eco-friendly forms of the material. Researchers at Yale University have put forward a candidate that ticks a number of important boxes, developing a new bioplastic with high strength but an ability to degrade entirely in the space of three months.
https://newatlas.com/materials/bioplastic-wood-powder-degrades-three-months/
Millions of metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean each year, but beyond that, we have little idea where much of it ultimately winds up. Researchers working to trace its path through the marine environment have discovered the highest concentration of microplastics ever recorded on the seafloor, an example of a hotspot of plastic pollution created by deep-sea currents that act like conveyor belts for our trash.
https://newatlas.com/environment/record-microplastics-seafloor/
Microplastics are increasingly found to be polluting oceans and waterways and causing unknown damage to the health of animals and humans. Now, a new study provides evidence there's cross over with another looming public health threat – antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
https://newatlas.com/environment/wastewater-microplastics-superbugs/
When we hear about microplastic particles polluting the ocean, the usual suspected sources are degraded consumer plastic goods and synthetic textile fibers from washing machines. A new study, however, suggests that much of the blame lies with protective hull coatings on ships.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ship-hull-coatings-microplastic-pollution/
As millions of tons of plastic wash into the ocean everyday, scientists have their work cut out for them in trying to keep tabs on its whereabouts, but they may soon have a useful new tool at the their disposal. Researchers at the University of Barcelona have developed an algorithm that can detect and quantify marine litter through aerial imagery, something they hope can work with drones to autonomously scan the seas and assess the damage.
https://newatlas.com/environment/artificial-intelligence-ocean-plastics-air/
Removing the vast amounts of plastic waste already polluting our oceans is going to need tackling in a number of ways. But the flow of plastic from rivers also needs to be stopped, and that's what Vietnam's trash traps are designed to do.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-conservancy-trash-trap-vietnam-red-river/
The more we know about the problem of plastic pollution, the better we'll be able to intervene and clean up, or even prevent, the mess. That includes understanding the way it moves through the marine environment, and a new study has shed further light on this process through the use of tagged plastic bottles. The bottles were dropped in the Ganges river and some ended up thousands of kilometers away.
https://newatlas.com/environment/tagged-plastic-bottles-path-plastic-ocean/
A group of scientists studying the flow of plastic into the ocean have found a startling amount of pollution exiting South Asia's largest river systems. The scientists calculated that the Ganges and two nearby waterways are responsible for pumping as much as three billion microplastic particles into the Indian Ocean each day.
The study was conducted as part of National Geographic's Sea to Source project, which aims to tackle the problem of plastic pollution by investigating how it can be prevented from reaching the ocean. In December, scientists working on this project published research detailing just how far tagged plastic bottles can travel along the Ganges river, washiing thousands of kilometers downstream into the Indian Ocean.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ganges-river-plastic-particles-pollution/
One of the problems with microplastics pollution is the fact that the plastic particles are very small, and thus difficult to trap or neutralize when widely dispersed in water. That's why a new technique is being developed to eliminate them at their source, where they're highly concentrated.
https://newatlas.com/environment/electrolytic-oxidation-microplastics/
lthough cleaning up the humungous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a daunting concept, removing trash from local waterways is much more feasible—and that's exactly what the Clearbot robot is designed to do.
https://newatlas.com/environment/clearbot-autonomous-aquatic-garbage-robot/
As useful as plastics are in our everyday life, they're difficult to recycle, meaning most ends up in landfill or polluting the environment. Now, researchers in Japan have used a novel catalyst to recycle a common plastic into useful products like fuel and wax.
https://newatlas.com/materials/plastic-waste-catalyst-recycle/
A team at UC Berkeley has developed a process that turns plastic waste into something more valuable -- an adhesive. Based on an engineered catalyst, the inspiration was to find ways to "upcycle" plastics by putting them to new uses while preserving the properties that made them attractive in the first place.
https://newatlas.com/science/waste-plastic-polyethylene-adhesive/
We know that tons of plastic waste washes into the ocean each year, but what we don't know all that much about is what happens to it once it gets there. A new study as shone a light on the role deep-sea trenches can play in the movement of plastic pollution, revealing how they can act as traps, accumulating large amounts of microplastic particles and holding them there.
https://newatlas.com/environment/deep-sea-trench-plastic-traps/
Microplastics are starting to turn up in all kinds of places, from the heights of Mount Everest, to the sea ice in the Antarctic, to the organs and tissues of the human body. In an effort to better understand how these tiny fragments of plastic are absorbed by organisms in aquatic environments, scientists have carried out a study that shows how a coating of biomolecules can act as a "Trojan horse" that sneaks them into living cells.
https://newatlas.com/environment/waterborne-microplastics-bio-coatings-living-cells/
Though The Ocean Cleanup is already removing plastic waste from oceans and turning it into consumer products, the non-profit also has a small number of river vessels tackling the pollution problem at its source. Now the organization is ramping up production of these Interceptors, with a thousand of the world's most heavily polluting rivers in its sights.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-cleanup-konecranes-interceptor-production-scale-up/
As tiny waste products measuring up to just a few millimeters in size, microplastics are an insidious form of plastic pollution that is incredibly difficult to trace, but scientists are gaining a clearer picture of how far-reaching its presence is. The latest discovery in this area comes from high altitude, with researchers studying microplastics on Mt Everest for the first time uncovering evidence of them just below the summit.
https://newatlas.com/environment/highest-microplastics-top-mt-everest/
Often made from plants, recycled material and various forms of organic matter, bioplastics promise a number of advantages over conventional plastics produced through fossil fuels. These include less energy-intensive production, faster biodegradation in the environment and even greater resistance to heat, but a new study suggests that safety may not be one of these benefits, revealing that bioplastics carry just as much toxic content as regular plastic.
https://newatlas.com/materials/study-bioplastics-toxic-regular-plastic/
The insidious spread of microplastics through our environment is something that we really don't know enough about. Tons and tons of plastic waste washes into the ocean every year, much of which is broken down into pieces smaller than a fingernail that become very difficult to track, with untold consequences for marine life and organisms that consume it (us included). Researchers have now found unexpected quantities of microplastics are lodged in Arctic sea ice, shedding new light on how microplastics move through the ocean.
https://newatlas.com/arctic-sea-ice-microplastics/54376/
As part of its mission to tackle plastic pollution in the marine environment, The Ocean Cleanup project plans to sell goods made from the waste it recovers to fund its ongoing operations, and has just unveiled its very first product. Each pair of Ocean Cleanup sunglasses are made with plastics hauled in from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and are designed to be easily recycled themselves once they reach the end of their life.
https://newatlas.com/environment/ocean-cleanup-sunglasses-plastic-waste/
Two of the main problems with traditional plastics are the facts that they're made from non-renewable petroleum, and they stick around for centuries once discarded. A new alternative, however, is made from existing waste, and should biodegrade within a year.
https://newatlas.com/environment/bioplastic-waste-biodegrades-one-year/
Back in 2018, scientists in Japan made the key discovery of a bacterium with a natural appetite for PET plastics. This raised the prospect of a low-cost solution to some of the most common forms of plastic pollution, and now scientists have used this bacterium as the basis for a newly engineered "super-enzyme" that can digest plastic waste six times faster.
https://newatlas.com/environment/engineered-super-enzyme-plastic-waste-six-times/
Discarded soda bottles, cigarette butts and fishing nets are some common examples of pollution in the ocean, but our problems with plastic don.t end with the pieces that you see. Laundry cycles see our clothes shed huge amounts of microplastic fibers into the wastewater and scientists have now made an effort to quantify this, estimating that millions of metric tonnes of these synthetic fibers have entered waterbodies since 1950.
https://newatlas.com/environment/study-plastic-fibers-shed-globally-laundry/
Single-use plastics are a huge problem, often ending up in landfill or clogging waterways before making their way into the ocean. Plastic straws are a major culprit, prompting the creation of reusable straws, but despite being more eco-friendly, these alternatives have their own shortcomings. A German company has now come up with an innovative product called the ClickStraw that solves these problems.
https://newatlas.com/sponsored-content/clickstraw-reusable-opening-straw-plastic-waste-ocean/
Plastic is a material with a severe environmental footprint, from the tiny, busted up particles that pollute the ocean to the initial production that pieces it all together. Scientists taking aim at the formative stages of this process have made a breakthrough that could open up more eco-friendly forms of plastics production, with the discovery of a bacterial system that generates one of the material's key building blocks through its natural metabolic process.
https://newatlas.com/materials/sulfur-bacteria-fossil-fuel-free-plastics/
One of the great unknowns when it comes to plastic pollution is what kind of threat tiny fragments can pose to the health of living organisms. Scientists have turned to human tissue for answers, and discovered evidence of plastic fragments in every single sample they studied.
https://newatlas.com/environment/study-plastic-human-tissues-particles-every-sample/
Supercapacitors hold incredible potential when it comes to energy storage, with an ability to charge and discharge almost instantly being one of their major selling points. Were key components for these next-generation devices to come from sustainable sources that would only add to the appeal, and scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) are offering up this possibility in the form of a nanomaterial made from upcycled plastic waste.
https://newatlas.com/energy/upcycling-technique-plastic-bottles-supercapacitor-material/
How we go about cleaning up the mass of plastic pollution in the ocean is a mind-bogglingly difficult question, and one that will take a range of innovative approaches to solve. A new study has cast doubt over one of the more publicized solutions in floating trash-collection barriers, finding that these devices are unlikely to put a dent in the overall problem, even if left to run well into next century.
https://newatlas.com/environment/floating-booms-clean-up-ocean-plastic-5-percent/
Part of the great difficulty in tracing the path of plastic pollution through the environment is the processes that break it down into tiny pieces along the way, such as the corrosive forces of ocean currents or ultraviolet light. Recently, scientists have begun to uncover evidence of how the digestive systems of certain animals can play a part in this process, with the latest concerning a small crustacean that can turn microplastics into—nanoplastics—in just four days
https://newatlas.com/environment/common-crustacean-microplastics-nanoplastics-days/
With its production continuing to increase at an exponential rate, our problem with plastic pollution is showing no sign of slowing down. A new study mapping mapping the movement of plastic waste has outlined just how drastic the situation might become, projecting that 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic will be dumped on land and in the oceans by 2040 unless some significant steps are taken to address the trend.
https://newatlas.com/environment/billion-tonnes-plastic-waste-2040-study/
Driven by the huge burden they place on the environment, scientists are continually looking for new ways to manufacture plastic materials that make them easier to recycle, and MIT researchers are now claiming a significant breakthrough in this area. By modifying the makeup of a common type of plastic, the team has produced a version of equal strength that is far easier to break down after use, allowing it to be rebuilt and recycled to take on an entirely new life.
https://newatlas.com/materials/mit-degradable-plastic-mechanical-strength/
Carbon dioxide is an all too common waste product of industry, belched into the air in huge amounts from smokestacks. Now, researchers have developed a new type of fluorinated membrane that can selectively filter CO2 out of flue gas at the point of release.
https://newatlas.com/environment/fluorinated-membrane-carbon-dioxide-capture/
For thousands of years humans have existed on Earth, but it is only in the last 100 or so that plastics have entered our lives. These days you can barely go a minute without touching something made from some kind of plastic. But while we've been getting all swept up in the convenience that synthetic polymers bring us, the trash has been piling up. Millions of metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, and no one really knows where it is and what damage it is causing. So ... what are we to do about it?
https://newatlas.com/plastic-ocean-cleanup/50277/
With awareness of the damaging effects of plastic pollution growing all the time, the search is very much on for greener alternatives. Japan's NEC Corp has today made commercially available a material it hopes can be a part of the solution, introducing a bioplastic made with plant ingredients that breaks down in the environment in around four years.
https://newatlas.com/materials/necycle-mass-produced-plant-based-bioplastic/
Recycling plastics is far from a simple undertaking, with only a small portion of what we actually use able to be broken down and repurposed for a second-life. Which is to say, there's a lot of room for improvement. Scientists tinkering with the chemical processes underpinning plastics recycling are continually uncovering new ways to put the discarded material to use, from techniques that turn it into useful aerogels to others that produce usable fuels. Here are five examples of such technologies that give hope of a greener future.
https://newatlas.com/science/plastic-waste-recycle-incredible-products/
Back in 2015, scientists from Stanford University announced that mealworms could be used to break down Styrofoam waste—by eating it. Now, the researchers have additionally discovered that a toxic substance in that foam is not concentrated in the worms— making them safe to eat.
https://newatlas.com/environment/toxic-additive-styrofoam-eating-mealworms/
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