Remove 2020 Remove Microplastics Remove Plastics
article thumbnail

Microplastics: 77% more found in River Thames during lockdown may be due to discarded face masks and PPE

Envirotec Magazine

By Ria Devereux , PhD Student, Microplastic Pollution, University of East London, writing in The Conversation. However, our research found discarded face coverings and other personal protective equipment (PPE) are likely to be the cause of a rise in microplastics entering the environment. That works out to an average of 17.6

article thumbnail

Microplastics: Six surprising everyday things that contain and release them

Envirotec Magazine

Microplastics have become so widespread that they have been discovered in fresh Antarctic snow. Something as seemingly innocent as Halloween decorations or gum can be a source, says Sulacpac, a producer of bio-based alternatives for conventional plastics. However, typical plastic waste isn’t the only source of microplastics.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Navigating Europe’s restriction on microplastics

Envirotec Magazine

Legislators in Europe seem to be keeping a closer eye on microplastics, with the introduction of European Union (EU) Regulation 2023/2055 in September being a recent milestone. While microplastics are useful, scientists, governments and consumers now recognize them as a major threat to the environment.

article thumbnail

Where there's hope for speeding up business action on plastics

GreenBiz

Where there's hope for speeding up business action on plastics. Wed, 08/26/2020 - 02:01. Its landmark report, "The New Plastics Economy," sounded the alarm in 2016 that if "business as usual" continues, by 2025 the ocean may hold more plastic than fish by weight. Plastics Pact by EMF, The Recycling Partnership and WWF.

Plastics 311
article thumbnail

Microplastic pollution in landfill leachate: A few drips of progress?

Envirotec Magazine

The microplastic pollution that turns up in landfill leachate has received much less attention than the stuff appearing in wastewater, and there seem to be far fewer studies exploring it. According to the OECD, in 2019, 50% of the world’s plastic waste was landfilled, 19% was incinerated, 9% was recycled and 22% was mismanaged.

article thumbnail

What scientists have learned from 20 years of microplastics research

Grist

scientists sounded the alarm on a then-underappreciated problem: the breakdown of plastic litter into small, even microscopic, fragments. While many previous reports had documented the buildup of plastic bottles and bags in the natural environment, much less attention had been paid to what the scientists dubbed “microplastics.”

article thumbnail

Plastic pollution is growing relentlessly as waste management and recycling fall short, says OECD

Envirotec Magazine

The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago, with the bulk of it ending up in landfill, incinerated or leaking into the environment, and only 9% successfully recycled, according to a new OECD report. Almost half of all plastic waste is generated in OECD countries, according to the Outlook.

Plastics 242