Plastic waste
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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 synthetic fibers have entered waterbodies since 1950.
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Were key components for supercapactirors to come from sustainable sources that would only add to their appeal, and scientists are offering up this possibility in the form of a nanomaterial made from upcycled plastic waste.
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A team of scientists has been working on more environmentally friendly forms of footwear, and is now showing off a pair of algae-based flip flops that make the grade for commercial footwear, but degrade in the environment in just 16 weeks.
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A new study has cast doubt over one method of cleaning up ocean plastics 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.
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That tiny plastic fragment exists in soil is perhaps not so surprising, but researchers have now conducted one of the first studies on what this means for plant life, finding that it can reduce the total biomass of the finished product.
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The efforts of researchers to trace plastic waste continues to turn up evidence of its detrimental effects on the natural world, with the latest example a study detailing the first evidence of river-borne plastic waste traveling up the food chain.
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Researchers working to trace the path of plastic waste through the marine environment have discovered the highest concentration of microplastics ever recorded on the seafloor, the result of deep-sea currents that act like conveyor belts for our trash.
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Understanding the extent of plastic pollution is incredibly difficult. Scientists have again found evidence of small particles in the most remote of places, discovering microplastics lodged in cores of Antarctic sea ice for the first time.
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A new study by scientists in Italy has shone a light on the way lobsters digest plastic particles, finding that their stomach actually grinds them up into tiny fragments that can pose a risk to smaller creatures in the food chain.
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Scientists studying the movement of seafloor sediment have found that underwater avalanches are driving microplastics into the deep ocean, which may help researchers better map the distribution of waste throughout the marine environment.
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Whether it's entangling marine animals or forming giant floating "garbage patches," oceanic plastic waste is a huge problem. There may be new hope however, in the form of what is claimed to be a better type of marine-biodegradable plastic.
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Sea turtles are one example of a creature that regularly consumes plastic trash for dinner, and a new study offers up new answers as to why revealing that they can mistake the smell of plastic for food as part of an “olfactory trap.”