![]() Bans are becoming an increasingly popular way of curtailing their use, and limited evidence indicates they do reduce debris. Because they are used for convenience, not necessity, they are easier to do without, and the polymers used to make them are among the most commonly produced and found in the environment. REDUCE AND RECYCLEĪn attractive, low-hanging target for tackling microplastic pollution is the drink bottles, utensils and bags that are called single-use plastics. “There’s definitely no single solution,” says Koldewey, of the Zoological Society of London and a National Geographic Fellow. In the long run scientists need to devise ways to break plastic down into its most basic units, which can be rebuilt into new plastics or other materials. In the medium term governments need to strengthen garbage collection and recycling systems to prevent waste from leaking into the environment between the trash can and the landfill, and to improve recycling rates. In the short term society needs to significantly curtail unnecessary single-use plastic items such as water bottles, plastic shopping bags, straws and utensils. To get the microplastics problem under control, the world has to take three primary steps, those who study the issue say. The problem is only expected to balloon as plastic production increases exponentially-from a mere two million metric tons annually in 1950 to more than 300 million metric tons today, and a projected 33 billion metric tons each year by 2050.Ī man refills a plastic bottle at a new public water fountain in London, England. Creatures from plankton to earthworms to humans are eating them, posing a potentially serious health threat to animals and ecosystems. Scientists have found these tiny bits of degraded plastic-along with fibers shed from synthetic fabric, and microbeads from cosmetics-lurking throughout the oceans, lakes, soil and even the air. And notably, plastic bottles are abundant along the banks of the River Thames, which carries them out to sea as they gradually break down into ever smaller fragments, tainting the river and the ocean with microplastics that can invade every level of the food chain. Bottled water use has doubled in the U.K. Their aim was to see if a new initiative to enlist businesses where people can refill empty bottles with tap water was making a dent in the trash littering the pavement, says marine biologist Heather Koldewey, who oversaw the research. The analysis of the composition of road dust has just started to be evaluated by some research studies and no standards or universal testing frameworks are available yet.This is the third of a three-part series that examines our growing understanding of the scope and impacts of microplastics pollution.Īt several locations around London last winter and spring, researchers stalked the streets counting the number of discarded plastic water bottles they encountered, as if tallying species across a coral reef. In the case of recycled plastics, for instance, there are concerns around the possible generation of microplastic particles due to weathering and trafficking. In fact, although fostering recycling in roads can be seen as an effective measure to reduce the infrastructure’s carbon footprint, there are many aspects that have never been studied before. ![]() All around the world, road authorities are trying to incorporate recycled materials in roads but more stringent environmental requirements are coming into place that ask scientists to also evaluate new aspects of these technologies. The project is investigating the benefits, methodologies, testing frameworks, and performance-based specifications for incorporating recycled plastics into asphalt. ![]() In this context the Transport and Infrastructure Council of Australia, which bring together Australian and New Zealand transport ministers, has funded a large research project on recycled plastics in asphalt roads (Austroads Project APT6305). With the national ban on plastic exports, alternative methods to deal with waste plastics must be implemented for a sustainable future. 11.5% of the consumed plastics were recycled (locally and exported) while the rest were sent to land fill. A total of 3.5 million tonnes of plastics were consumed in Australia for the 2018-19 financial year. ![]()
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