TOPICSPlastic waste

Plastic waste

Remote sensing to help water pollution
Environment

Using remote sensing to monitor plastic debris in rivers and lakes

Pranjal Malewar

First-of-its-kind!

black plastic recycling
Science

Researchers use sunlight to recycle black plastic

Jay Kakade

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

A new study finds that a common bacterium can break down plastic for food, opening new possibilities for bacteria-based engineering solutions to help clean up plastic waste.
Science

A common bacterium can break down plastic for food

Ashwini Sakharkar

This opens new possibilities for bacteria-based engineering solutions to help clean up plastic waste.

Graduate student RJ Conk adjusts a reaction chamber in which mixed plastics are degraded into the reusable building blocks of new polymers.
Science

New process vaporizes plastic wastes to make new, recycled plastics

Ashwini Sakharkar

The catalytic process efficiently reduces polymers to chemical precursors.

textile-and-plastic-waste
Environment

Chemical recycling of PET from both textile and plastic waste mixtures

Ashwini Sakharkar

A novel solution to the plastic waste problem.

Design bottle plastic manufacturing
Social Science

National bottle deposit fee can reduce plastic waste dramatically

Ashwini Sakharkar

How to increase the rate of plastic recycling

Environmental pollution of plastic water bottle in the ocean
Environment

Up to 11 million tonnes of plastic pollution is sitting on the ocean floor

Pranjal Malewar

Ocean floor a 'reservoir' for plastic pollution, world-first study finds.

Flash Joule heating is a technique that passes a current through a moderately resistive material to quickly heat materials to exceptionally high temperatures and transform them into other substances.
Invention

Upcycling hard-to-recycle plastics into useful material

Ashwini Sakharkar

Rice lab turned wind turbine material into a useful semiconductor.

Dafeng coastal salt marshes
Environment

Plastic-eating fungi thriving in plastisphere offer exciting possibilities for tackling global waste

Amit Malewar

Unique ecological niche identified for the first time dubbed ‘terrestrial plastisphere’.

Fluorescent nano-plastics
Science

Nano-plastics disrupt the growth of the heart, eyes, and nervous system

Amit Malewar

Malformations in heart, eyes and nervous system.

Small plastic fragments and microplastics
Environment

AWI researchers have analyzed the origins of plastic debris in the Arctic

Ashwini Sakharkar

The findings show that even prosperous industrialised countries make significant contributions.

The Global Plastic Watch tool, accessible at https://globalplasticwatch.org/.
Environment

Satellites can be used to identify waste sites on Earth

Editorial Team

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

Microbes in cow stomachs can help break down plastic
Science

Microbes in cow stomachs can help break down plastic

Pranjal Malewar

An eco-friendly way to reduce litter.

A modified plastic (left) breaks down after just three days in standard compost (right) and entirely after two weeks
Environment

New way to make compostable plastics break down more easily

Pranjal Malewar

Solving a problem that has flummoxed the plastics industry and environmentalists.

A blue microplastic bead
Environment

Microplastics are more ubiquitous than science had known

Pranjal Malewar

Scientists find microplastics everywhere.

Upcycling PET plastic waste into a nanomaterial for supercapacitors.
Technology

Upcycling PET plastic waste into a nanomaterial for supercapacitors

Amit Malewar

The breakthrough could reduce plastic pollution and hasten the transition to 100% clean energy.

Microplastics are delivered to the ocean through rivers carrying industrial and domestic wastewater, carried down submarine canyons by powerful avalanches of sediment (turbidity currents) and then transported on the seafloor by 'bottom currents' and deposited in sediment drifts. Other microplastics sink from the ocean surface and can also be picked up and carried by bottom currents. Credit: Dr Ian Kane
Environment

Highest levels of microplastic ever recorded on the seafloor

Pranjal Malewar

More than 10 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans every year. Floating plastic waste at sea has attracted the public's interest on...

Environment

How submarine sediment avalanches transport microplastics into the deep ocean?

Pranjal Malewar

Much of the macro- and microplastic in the ocean ends up on the seafloor, with some of the highest concentrations reported in submarine canyons...

Environment

LEGO bricks could survive in the ocean for up to 1,300 years

Ashwini Sakharkar

The residence times of plastics in the oceans are obscure, mainly as a result of the durability of the material and the moderately short...

We are drinking lots of plastics
Science

We are drinking lots of plastics

Amit Malewar

The widespread use and release of plastics in nature have raised global concerns about their impact on public health and the environment. The extensive...

Environment

Major environmental challenge as microplastics are harming our drinking water

Pranjal Malewar

Tiny pieces of plastic break down further during treatment processes, reducing the performance of treatment plants and impacting on water quality.

NUS doctoral student Emily Curren examining microplastic samples collected from coastal areas of Singapore.
Environment

Marine scientists find toxic bacteria on microplastics retrieved from tropical waters

Editorial Team

A field survey conducted by a team of marine scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has uncovered toxic bacteria living on the...

New chemical conversion process turns plastic waste into fuel
Technology

New chemical conversion process turns plastic waste into fuel

Pranjal Malewar

Almost 8 million plastics flow into the oceans each year. Plastic waste disposal, whether recycled or thrown away, does not mean the end of the...

Precious Plastic Recycling Machines
Invention

Students recycled plastic with self-built waste machines

Editorial Team

Students at the University of Twente have developed Precious Plastic Recycling Machines by grinding up plastic waste with a shredder. They are going to present...

Oxford Sustainable Fuels to tackle plastic waste by recycling waste into fuels
Invention

Oxford Sustainable Fuels to tackle plastic waste by recycling waste into fuels

Editorial Team

A spinout company Oxford Sustainable Fuels (OSF) is being established by Oxford University Innovation based on a technology that can transform waste in the...

Study Finds Most Ocean Pollution Comes From Asian Rivers
Environment

Study Finds Most Ocean Pollution Comes From Asian Rivers

Amit Malewar

Water pollution is a major global problem. It occurs when water contamination bodies mix with water. Water pollution effect entire biosphere involving plant, organisms...

Plastic Waste Can Now Transform Into Petrol, Diesel
Technology

Plastic Waste Can Now Transform Into Petrol, Diesel

Amit Malewar

Plastic pollution is rising. Every person is responsible for plastic waste. However, some scientists have proved that plastic materials can also be recycled. For...

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