#some decay into microplastics instead

[dokyeomini]

the career advisor basically summed up and asked me if i wanna be an inventor? which us such a vague term idk what that even entails but yeah it does sound super cool afkldhl

[21-days-to-sustainability]

Single Use Plastics

In Canada, an estimated 3.3 million tonnes of plastic garbage is created each year, yet only 9% of it gets recycled? You might be startled to learn that billions of pieces of plastic debris are being dumped into our rivers, seas, and lakes. Plastic pollution is a serious problem. In truth, the environmental implications of single-use plastic are not only unattractive, but they may also be disastrous to species and ecosystems. Single-use plastic is often used only once, yet it takes hundreds of years in landfills to decompose. In addition, around 86 percent of Canada's plastic trash is disposed of in landfills. The remaining 5% of plastic is burned to generate electricity, causing major pollution issues or ending up as litter in the environment. Plastic straws, bags, coffee stirrers, food packaging, and soda and water bottles are examples of disposable plastics that never totally degrade. Instead, they decay and turn into microplastics, polluting the environment. 

Thousands of animals are killed each year as a result of plastic pollution. Fishing gear or plastic bags have been discovered in the stomachs of seabirds, fish, turtles, and marine animals. Furthermore, plastic has harmed nearly 700 species, including endangered species. Starvation or entanglement are the causes of death for animals. Microplastics have been discovered in more than 100 aquatic species. The plastic has the potential to penetrate organs or obstruct the digestive track, resulting in death. Animals with plastic-filled stomachs have no desire to eat and starve to death. Plastic bags are commonly mistaken for food by animals, especially sea creatures. Currently, 60 to 80 percent of marine trash is plastic, which implies that many sea species are eating this poisonous saltwater soup filled with deadly compounds from plastic degradation at some point.

Floating plastics abound in the world's oceans, and the number is steadily growing. Wave movements, bacteria, and seasonal variations all have an effect on the characteristics of plastic in the water, converting it into so-called microplastics, which are then devoured by plankton. These microplastics sneak into fish, shellfish, and birds' mouths, stomachs, and digestive systems, making it difficult for them to breathe and feed. All of these plastics do not decompose, and they form part of the aquatic and human food chain.

The Pacific Trash Vortex is a clump of plastic litter in the North Pacific Ocean. The concentration of single-use plastic caught by currents in this vortex is very high. It is believed to be twice the size of Texas and has had a destructive effect on marine ecosystems. Plastics and microplastics absorb and emit chemicals that are detrimental to marine life. Plastic materials or harmful substances absorbed by plastics may accumulate in the environment over time.  

This is day 1 of my new attempt at becoming more eco-friendly, for the second time, I’m committing myself to make changes that will help me reach my goal, and help me improve my footprint. In these next 21 days, I will be cutting single use plastic out of my life in as many ways as I can. 

[liliannorman]

Help for a world drowning in microplastics

Look around you. How many plastic items do you see? If you are like most people, there are probably a lot.

Research shows that people recycle only nine percent of plastic wastes. The rest — water bottles, pens, shopping bags — can end up in our water, air and soil. Exposed to light and waves, plastic breaks down into teeny-tiny bits. Known as microplastics, they have become a growing concern. That’s partly because when they end up in the environment, they also can end up in animals, our food and our drinking water.

The most recent estimate suggests that Americans alone eat or drink some 70,000 of these polluting microplastic bits each year.

Discarded plastic is not the only source of them. Some bits are made on purpose, for use in skin-care products and toothpaste. They’re used to scrub away dead skin and cavity-causing material on teeth. When we shower or rinse our mouths, those microplastics go down the drain. From there, they end up in our waterways.

Researchers have even shown that washing clothes made of fleece and other types of plastic sheds bits of lint. Those fibers also go down the drains and into the water.

Scientists began reporting microplastics in the ocean as far back as the 1970s. Since then, several hundred studies have shown that microplastics taint the environment. This includes the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers.

But research is underway to slow the growth of this pollution — and perhaps clean up some of what’s already out there.

The problem with plastics

Our drinking water comes from lakes, rivers and groundwater aquifers. Any of these may be tainted with microplastics. Our bodies will pee out plastics we’ve ingested, but no one knows how long it takes for them to move through the body, says Sam Athey. She studies sources of microplastics at the University of Toronto in Canada. The longer microplastics stay in our bodies, she says, the greater our exposure to them.

Scientists Say: Microplastic

Researchers don’t yet know the risks, says Athey. But she finds reasons to be cautious. One is that plastic is made from oil and includes many different petroleum-based ingredients. Scientists don’t yet know how many of these might be toxic.

Ingredients in some plastics, such as polyvinyl chloride, can cause cancer. And phthalates (THAAL-aytes) — used to soften some types of plastics — can mimic the activity of hormones. These false hormones can cause unexpected changes in how cells grow and develop. Such changes may lead to disease.

Plastic also can soak up pollution like a sponge. The pesticide DDT and PCBs (a type of insulating fluid) are two types of toxic pollution found in plastics floating in the ocean.

Plastic bits also have been turning up in fish, birds, corals and other aquatic animals. That’s a problem because plastic does not provide the energy and nutrients these creatures need to grow and thrive. 

The case for saying no to plastic

The simple solution is to not buy plastic items, says Peter Kershaw. He is an independent marine scientist who lives in Norwich, England. He wrote a 2018 report for the United Nations on alternatives that could help reduce plastic litter in the ocean.

“Ask yourself,” he says: “Do I really need that plastic bag to carry my shopping home?” Or do you really need a plastic straw to drink your soda or milk?

Straws make up a lot of the plastic trash found washed up on ocean coasts and lakeshores. One way to cut down on your plastic use is to avoid straws (if you are able to drink without one).Chemist 4 U/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The leaders of some countries also have been asking that question. They’ve decided the answer is “no” and have banned single-use plastic items. These are things, such as packaging, that we use once and then throw away.

Bangladesh, Kenya and New Zealand are three countries that have banned plastic bags. Some U.S. cities and a few states also have banned them. Representing 28 countries, the European Parliament has agreed to ban nearly a dozen single-use plastics by 2021. Europe’s ban includes single-use cutlery, plates, straws and drink stirrers. Canada announced a plan to ban these, too, by 2021.

Such bans are a good start. But scientists say people must do more.

The promise and peril of biodegradable materials

One strategy is to find alternatives to conventional plastics. Some companies are starting to replace single-use plastic items with biodegradable alternatives. These new products are designed to break down into harmless chemicals.

Materials decay when microbes feed on them, breaking big molecules into smaller, simpler ones (such as carbon dioxide and water). Other living things can then feed on these breakdown products to grow.

This environmental activist calls himself the Bag Monster. He posed for the camera at the Oceans Conference in New York City in June 2017. His suit illustrates how many plastic bags an individual shopper might use in a year.Peter Kershaw

Traditional plastic takes a very long time to decay. That’s because it’s made from petroleum, and few microbes choose to eat that. Biodegradable plastic, in contrast, is made from biological materials on which many microbes happily dine. These range from trees, sugarcane and corn stalks to shrimp shells.

But there is a problem with such materials, says Kershaw. They decay only at very high temperatures — typically 50º Celsius (122º Fahrenheit). Plus, those high temperatures must be maintained for several weeks for microbes to do their job.

Some cities have industrial compost systems that meet those conditions. But many do not. Instead, biodegradable plastic items can end up in a cold ocean or lake where they can take decades or even centuries to break down, depending on the type of plastic.

Sunlight can speed their breakdown. But scientists recently showed some biodegradable plastic bags were still strong and intact after three years outdoors. In that regard, they were not much better than regular plastic.

The other problem with biodegradable plastics is that people often toss them into the recycling bin with regular plastic.

“Once you mix them together — and they look the same, so people do it — it makes it harder to recycle the plastic,” says Kershaw.

Filtering microplastics from the laundry

Researchers at the University of Toronto are testing this washing machine filter in 100 homes. It is designed to capture microplastic lint from clothing. The researchers want to see how much microplastic pollution it could keep out of local waters.Courtesy of Wexco

Cleaning clothes has become an enormous source of waterborne plastic. Washing machines tumble and wear down fabrics. This releases lots of little pieces of lint. If the fabric was made from nylon, polyester, polyethylene or polyamide, for instance, those lint particles will be plastic.

One 2018 study found that polyester fleece was a big culprit. A study that came out two years earlier showed that washing a single 6 kilogram (13 pound) load of clothes made from synthetic fabrics could release some 700,000 plastic lint fibers into the wash water. That explains why some researchers are looking for ways to keep that lint from going down the drain.

One project has been testing special filters to catch those fibers. It’s being run by researchers at the University of Toronto and at Georgian Bay Forever (a local environmental group). This past July, they installed the test filters on washing machines in 100 households in Parry Sound, Ontario. Parry Sound is on the shores of Canada’s Georgian Bay. It is part of Lake Huron.

The local water-treatment plants aren’t designed to remove microplastics. So any lint microplastics from the town’s wash will end up in the bay. The test filters are about twice the size of a standard water bottle. In recent tests, they removed roughly 90 percent of microfibers, notes project leader Lisa Erdle. She works at the University of Toronto.

This is how much microplastic lint one family in Canada produced during a month’s worth of laundry. An experimental filter on their washing machine removed the plastic lint before it could drain into nearby Georgian Bay.Georgian Bay Forever

“Testing in our lab shows they [the filters] work in a controlled setting,” she notes. “We’re curious to see if they work [just as well] in real people’s homes.” Whether they do may depend on whether people use the filters properly. For instance, she notes, “How often do they change the filter?”

Erdle and her team tested the wash water before the filters were installed. They are now repeating those tests to see how well the filters reduced the release of plastic lint.

The study will run for two years. Its results will be shared with the public. Because Parry Sound has a population of just 6,400, Erdle suspects the decrease in microplastic fibers will be noticeable.

The ideal solution would be to not manufacture plastic-based clothing in the first place, says Erdle. But filtering lint out of wash water and then burying it in a landfill would at least keep the pollution out of our waters.

Can nanotechnology bring mega benefits?

What about the microplastic pollution already polluting rivers, lakes and the ocean? In July 2019, researchers in Australia reported a potential solution for breaking microplastics into smaller, harmless molecules.

They created nanometer-scale coil-shaped tubes. Made from carbon, these tubes are too small to see (even with a classroom microscope). But they may produce a very visible change in water pollution by breaking down microplastics.

Here’s how they work: The carbon nanotubes are coated in nitrogen. When mixed with a compound known as POMS (short for peroxymonosulfate [Per-OX-ee-mon-oh-SUL-fate]), the nanotubes create new chemicals. Known as reactive oxygen species, or ROS, these new chemicals crumble microplastics into smaller components.

This tiny carbon nanotube (twisted into a coil to make it more rugged) was imaged by a scanning electron microscope. When mixed in water with a compound called peroxymonosulfate, such nanotubes produce chemicals that break down microplastics. J. Kang et al/Matter 2019

Chemical engineer Jian Kang led the research. He works at Curtin University in Perth. His team added their carbon nanotubes to 80 milliliters (one-third cup) of water tainted with microplastic particles. Then they warmed the water to 120 °C (248 °F) for eight hours. Heating the water speeds the process. Manganese embedded within each nanotube made the tubes magnetic. This meant the researchers could use magnets to pull them out of the water for reuse.

The treatment reduced the amount of microplastics in the water by about a third to one-half, Kang’s group showed. It reported the findings on July 31, 2019 in the journal Matter.

Chemicals produced by the plastic’s breakdown don’t appear very toxic, notes Long Chen. He is an environmental engineer at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. Chen was not involved in the work. The Australian researchers exposed green algae to water containing the microplastic by-products. After two weeks, they saw no change in the algae’s growth.

Clearly, more research is needed. But the early testing does appear promising.

“It’s great to have this option as a tool in a toolbox” to curb microplastic pollution, says Bart Koelmans. He is an environmental scientist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

However, researchers caution there still is a lot of work to do. What’s more, Koelmans says, such new programs to clean up plastics “should not dismiss us from thinking about what the real problem is — and that’s the [release] of plastic into places where it does not belong.”

Help for a world drowning in microplastics published first on https://triviaqaweb.tumblr.com/

[coolgizs-blog]

Plastic Pollution

INTRODUCTION

  Plastic pollution, collection in the environment of plastic products to the point where they create problems for wildlife as well as for humans. By the end of the 20th century, even so, plastics were found to be relentless polluters of many environmental ecological niches, from Mount Everest to the bottom of the sea.

Being mistaken for food by the creature, flooding low-lying areas by impeding avoidance systems, or just inflicting vital inventive plague, plastics have attracted increasing attention as a large-scale waste.

The problem of plastics

Plastic could be a chemical compound material—that is, a fabric whose molecules area unit terribly massive, usually resembling long chains created of an ostensibly endless series of interconnected links.

Natural polymers like rubber and silk exist in abundance, however, nature’s “plastics” haven't been concerned about environmental pollution, as a result of they are doing not continue the atmosphere.

Today, however, the standard consumer comes into daily contact with all kinds of plastic materials that are developed specifically to defeat natural decay processes—materials derived primarily from oil that can be shaped, cast spun, or applied as a coating.

Since artificial plastics area units for the most part nonbiodegradable, they have an inclination to continue natural environments.

Moreover, many light-weight single-use plastic product and packaging materials, that account for regarding Federal Reserve note of all plastics created do not appear to be deposited in containers for subsequent removal to landfills, recycling centers, or incinerators.

Instead, they're improperly disposed of at or close to the situation wherever they finish their quality to the patron.

Dropped on the bottom, thrown out of a window, cumulous onto Associate in Nursing already full rubbish bin, or unwittingly carried off by a current of air of wind, they immediately begin

to pollute the environment.

Indeed, landscapes untidy by plastic packaging became common in several elements of the planet.

(Illegal selling of plastic and overflowing of containment structures additionally play a task.) Studies from around the world haven't shown any explicit country or demographic cluster to be

most responsible, though population centers generate the most litter.

The causes and effects of the plastic pollution area unit worldwide.

According to the trade association Plastics Europe, world plastic production grew from someone.5 million tones (about one.7 million tons) each year in 1950 to a calculable 275 million tones (303.1

million tons) by 2010 and 381 million tones (420 million tons) by 2015; between four.8 million and twelve.7 million tones (5.3 million and fourteen million tons) area unit discarded into the

oceans annually by countries with ocean coastlines.

Compared with materials in common use within half of the twentieth century, like glass, paper, iron, and Al, plastics have a low recovery rate.

That is, they're comparatively inefficient to reprocess as recycled scrap within the producing method, thanks to vital process difficulties like an occasional freezing point, which prevents contaminants from being driven off during heating and reprocessing.

Most recycled plastics area unit sponsored below the value of raw materials by varied deposit schemes or their exercise is just mandated by government laws.

Recycling rates vary dramatically from country to country, with solely northern European countries getting rates larger than fifty Percentage.

In any case, exercise doesn't very address plastic pollution, since recycled plastic is “properly” disposed of, whereas plastic pollution comes from improper disposal.

 Plastic pollution in oceans and on land

 Since the ocean is downstream from nearly every terrestrial location, it's the receiving body for a lot of the plastic waste generated ashore.

Several million tons of debris end up in the world’s oceans every year, and much of it is improperly discarded plastic litter.

The first oceanographic study to look at the number of near-surface plastic scrap within the world’s oceans was revealed in 2014.

It estimated that at least 5.25 trillion individual plastic particles weighing roughly 244,000 tons (269,000 tons) were floating on or near the surface.

Plastic pollution was initial noticed within the ocean by scientists finishing up being studies within the late Sixties and early Seventies and oceans and beaches still receive most of

the attention of those studying and working to abate plastic pollution.

Floating plastic waste has been shown to accumulate in 5 subtropics gyres that cowl forty % of the world’s oceans.

Located at Earth’s mid-latitudes, these gyres embrace the North and Pacific subtropics Gyres, who’s eastern “garbage patches” (zones with high concentrations of plastic waste circulating near the ocean surface) have garnered the attention of scientists and the media. The other gyres are the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres and the Indian Ocean Subtropical Gyre.

In the ocean, plastic pollution will kill marine mammals directly through the web in objects like fishing tackle, but it can also kill through ingestion, by being mistaken for food.

Studies have found that each one sort of species, as well as tiny animal, large cetaceans, most seabirds, and all marine turtles, readily ingest plastic bits and trash items such as cigarette

lighters, plastic bags, and bottle caps.

Sunlight and H2O embrittle plastic, and the eventual breakdown of larger objects into “microplastics” makes plastic available to zooplankton and other small marine animals.

Such small pieces of plastic, which are less than 5 mm (0.2 inches) in length, make up a sizable fraction of plastic waste in the oceans. By 2018 microplastics had been found in the organs of more than 114 aquatic species, including some species found only in the deepest ocean trenches. In addition to being nonnutritive and indigestible, plastics have been shown to concentrate pollutants up to a million times their level in the surrounding seawater and then deliver them to the species that ingest them. In one study, levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a lubricant and insulating material that is now widely banned, were shown to have increased significantly in the preen gland oil of patterned shearwaters (Colometries leucomas) when these seabirds had been fed plastic pellets culled from national capital Bay for less then one week.

There are also terrestrial aspects of plastic pollution. Drainage systems become clogged with plastic bags, films, and other items, causing flooding.

Land birds, like the reintroduced condor, have been found with plastic in their stomachs, and animals that normally feed in waste dumps—for instance, the sacred cows of India—have had intestinal blockages from plastic packaging.

The mass of plastic isn't bigger than that of alternative major elements of waste, but it takes up a disproportionately large volume.

As waste dumps expand in residential areas, the scavenging poor square measure usually found living close to or maybe on piles of residual plastics.

 Pollution by plastics additives

Plastic also pollutes without being littered—specifically, through the release of compounds used in its manufacture.

Indeed, pollution of the atmosphere by chemicals leached from plastics into air associated water is a rising space of concern.

As a result, some compounds used in plastics, such as phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), have come under close scrutiny and regulation.

Phthalates are plasticizers—softeners accustomed create plastic products less brittle.

They are found in medical devices, food packaging, automobile upholstery, flooring materials, and computers further as in prescribed drugs, perfumes, and cosmetics.

BPA, used in the manufacture of clear, hard polycarbonate plastics and strong epoxy coatings and adhesives, is present in packaging, bottles, compact discs, medical devices, and the linings of food cans. PBDE is added to plastics as a flame retardant. All these compounds have been detected in humans and are known to disrupt the endocrine system. Phthalates act against male hormones and are therefore known as anti-androgens; BPA mimics the natural female hormone estrogen, and PBDE has been shown to disrupt thyroid hormones in addition to be an anti-androgen. The people most vulnerable to such hormone-disrupting chemicals are children and women of reproductive age. These compounds have also been implicated in hormone disruption of animals in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats. Effects are seen in laboratory animals at blood levels lower than those found in the average resident of a developed country. Amphibians, mollusks, worms, insects, crustaceans, and fish show effects on their reproduction and development, including alterations in the number of offspring produced, disruption of larval development, and (in insects) delayed emergence—though studies investigating resulting declines in those populations have not been reported. Studies are needed to fill this knowledge gap, as are studies of the effects of exposure to mixtures of those compounds on animals and humans.

 Solving the problem

 Given the worldwide scale of plastic pollution, the price of removing plastics from the surroundings would be preventative.

Most solutions to the matter of plastic pollution, therefore, target preventing improper disposal or perhaps on limiting the utilization of bound plastic things within the initial place.

Fines for littering have proved tough to enforce, however numerous fees or outright bans on foamed food containers and plastic looking luggage area unit currently common, as area unit deposits ransomed by taking beverage bottles to recycling centers. So-called extended producer responsibility, or EPR, schemes create the makers of some things chargeable for making AN infrastructure to require back and recycle the product that they manufacture.

Awareness of the intense consequences of plastic pollution are increasing, and new solutions, as well as the increasing use of perishable plastics and a “zero waste” philosophy, area unit being embraced by governments and the public.