Plastic Pollution

COVID-19 has sparked a global arms race for personal protective equipment (PPE) as governments scramble to protect frontline workers.But while no-one disputes the current urgency, campaigners are concerned it could worsen another epidemic: plastic pollution.The UN estimates that 13 million tons of plastic are dumped in the sea each year…

Yorkshire-based British textiles manufacturer, Camira, has teamed up with the SEAQUAL Initiative – which turns waste plastic captured from the sea by fishermen into yarn – to make the industry’s first upholstery fabric to contain ocean plastic. We caught up with Camira’s group design manager Ciara Crossan to find out…

AbstractMicroplastics are ubiquitous in estuarine, coastal, and deep sea sediments. The impacts of microplastics on sedimentary microbial ecosystems and biogeochemical carbon and nitrogen cycles, however, have not been well reported. To evaluate if microplastics influence the composition and function of sedimentary microbial communities, we conducted a microcosm experiment using salt…

One winner in the coronavirus pandemic: single-use plastic. Just a few weeks ago, states were implementing sweeping plastic bag bans and limiting the availability of plastic straws. But as the virus has spread through the U.S., states are rolling back their plastic bag bans, stores are banning the use of…

By: Express News Service | Pune | Published: May 8, 2020 11:12:25 pm During the decade, all attempts will be made to provide free and open access to ocean data and information to all. (AP) (Representational)India is a participating member-country in the six upcoming major ocean missions planned during this…

Florian Schneider, a founding member of Kraftwerk, has died from cancer, a representative for the band tells Pitchfork. Schneider was 73 years old.After meeting as classical music students at the Düsseldorf Conservator, Schneider and Ralf Hütter collaborated in a project called Organisation beginning in 1970. Schneider’s main instrument was flute,…

Every year, plastic waste discarded by humans — everything from plastic straws and food packaging to fishing nets and industrial products — ends up in the oceans. This trash floats around, eventually bumping into each other, where it becomes trapped and forms an ‘island’ of trash. A new study sheds…

TOKYO -- When Circulate Capital announced the first close of its Ocean Fund in December 2019, plastic pollution seemed to have become an urgent global crisis.With 8 million tons of waste entering the oceans each year -- 60% of which comes from Asia -- social pressure reached a tipping point,…

Millions of metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean each year, but beyond that, we have little idea where much of it ultimately winds up. Researchers working to trace its path through the marine environment have discovered the highest concentration of microplastics ever recorded on the seafloor, an example…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain New research from Queen's University Belfast and Liverpool John Moores University reveals how the microplastic pollution crisis is threatening biodiversity. Currently up to 10 percent of global plastic production ends up in the sea although the understanding of how this affects marine life is limited. The…