This year, the UK National James Dyson Award went to a team of student designers who want to reduce the environmental impact of car tires. The Tyre Collective designed a simple device that collects microplastics as they fly off a car tire. As the group of designers explains it, their device helps on the path […]
Every year, Plastic Free July is a time when millions of people pledge to give up single-use plastics. Last year, the month boasted around 250 million participants in 177 countries, but this year there’s a complication. The coronavirus pandemic is still very much with us, and it has led to a rise in single-use items, from personal protective equipment […]
By Rebecca Staudenmaier For the first time, scientists have discovered microplastics inside small organisms living in the soil in Antarctica, according to a new study published on Wednesday. “Plastics are thus entering the short Antarctic terrestrial food webs and represent a new potential stressor to polar ecosystems already facing climate change and increasing human activities,” […]
The plastic crisis has polluted the world’s oceans and created mountains in landfills. Microplastics have been identified wafting on the sea breeze and raining down on top of the Pyrenees. They travel on the winds and slowly drop down from the skies. Now, a new study has found that some of the most untouched areas […]
An estimated 14,000 tons of microfibers sloughed off of soiled laundry is believed to be released into European oceans every year, further contributing to microplastic pollution with a threat of becoming a “significant environmental issue.” That amounts to about two garbage trucks every day, new research suggests. Many synthetic clothes, linens, and households textiles are […]
The oceans are home to some strange looking animals, some of which are playing an outsized role in helping us combat the urgent climate crisis. One of those animals is the giant larvaceans, which inhabit seas around the world. As the Los Angeles Times reported, an enormous balloon of mucus about three feet wide often […]
The gruesome images of whales and deer dying after mistaking plastic for food has helped put into perspective just how severe the plastic waste crisis is. Now, a new study finds that it is not just land and sea animals eating our plastic trash. It turns out that birds are eating hundreds of bits of […]
New research suggests there may be far more microplastics in the ocean than initially estimated. Microplastics, which breakdown into miniscule pieces of plastic are notoriously tricky to catch. Their small size allows them to get buried in ocean sediment and to escape through nets. Now, a team of researchers, led by scientists at the Plymouth […]
Around eight million metric tons of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans every year, but researchers still don’t know where it all ends up. Last month, researchers discovered surprisingly high concentrations of microplastics on the seafloor. And now, a paper published in PLOS ONE Tuesday finds the ocean is spitting some of them back […]
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