Plastic pollution

New biodegradable material to replace the plastic beads
MIT chemical engineers designed an environmentally friendly alternative to the microbeads.

Can mealworms be the solution to our microplastic problem?
Mealworms are Nature’s scavengers and decomposers.

Researchers use sunlight to recycle black plastic
Due to black filler materials, black plastics have posed a serious challenge in ineffective sorting. Black plastic early has a 0% recycling rate, which...

Revolutionary polymer design balances toughness and recyclability
Plastics can be both tough and recyclable.

How do penguins and albatrosses find their food?
This is the first time this ability has been identified in seabirds.

New tool tells how much microplastic you are drinking in minutes
It can detect plastic particles ranging from 50 nanometres to 10 microns in size.

Lasers could help solve the world’s plastic problem
This discovery has significant implications for addressing environmental challenges.

Scientists detected 23 types of microplastics in the testicular tissue
This finding raises more concerns over the potential impact of microplastics.

The impact of microplastics on the Galápagos Islands Food Web
And excretion rate may determine whether or not these microplastics also bioaccumulate across trophic levels.

Up to 11 million tonnes of plastic pollution is sitting on the ocean floor
Ocean floor a 'reservoir' for plastic pollution, world-first study finds.

Using artificial photosynthesis to create biodegradable plastics
The system doubles the efficiency of fumaric acid production.

Paper drinking straws may be Harmful and may not be better for the environment
Long-lasting forever chemicals, which can cause damaging health issues, found in 18/20 brands of paper straws.

Wood dust-based filter removes up to 99.9% of microplastics from water
The filter traps virtually all microplastic particles present in water.

Plastic-eating fungi thriving in plastisphere offer exciting possibilities for tackling global waste
Unique ecological niche identified for the first time dubbed ‘terrestrial plastisphere’.

Plasticosis: Scientists found a new disease in birds caused by consuming plastic
While these birds can look healthy on the outside, they're not doing well on the inside.

Rapid and Unprecedented increase in ocean plastic since 2005 revealed
A global dataset of ocean plastic pollution between 1979 and 2019 reveals a rapid and unprecedented increase in ocean plastics since 2005, according to...

AWI researchers have analyzed the origins of plastic debris in the Arctic
The findings show that even prosperous industrialised countries make significant contributions.

New 100% biodegradable paper straws that do not become soggy
Biodegradable, water-resistant, anti-fizzing, polyester nanocellulose composite paper straws.

Satellites can be used to identify waste sites on Earth
A new computational system uses satellite data to identify sites on land where people dispose of waste, providing a new tool to monitor waste...

A solar-powered system turns plastic and greenhouse gases into a sustainable energy
The system can easily be tuned to produce different products by changing the type of catalyst.

Biodegradable medical gowns introduce harsh greenhouse gas discharge
There’s no magic bullet to this problem.

Compostable plastic can be turned into an insulating foam
The process is like opening a can of soda and releasing the carbonation.

New way to make compostable plastics break down more easily
Solving a problem that has flummoxed the plastics industry and environmentalists.

New recycling process could cut down millions of tons of plastic waste
A method for reclaiming the polymers using solvents.

Scientists found evidence of microplastic pollution on Mount Everest
The study is a real eye-opener.

A new kind of plastic that maintains its original qualities when recycled
High-performance circular polymers with both intrinsic chemical recyclability and crystallinity.

Upcycling PET plastic waste into a nanomaterial for supercapacitors
The breakthrough could reduce plastic pollution and hasten the transition to 100% clean energy.

A new polymer that can degrade by ultraviolet radiation
Scientists at Cornell University have come up with a new polymer that can degrade by ultraviolet radiation. This faster-degrading plastic can degrade on a...