Tag: plastic

The plastic wrap

From the deepest ocean trenches to the peaks of the highest mountains, plastics can now be found everywhere, and figuring out how to manage them has become a pressing problem. Several new studies have been released this week addressing the global plastic problem. One predicts how airborne microplastics will have an impact on the climate, … Continue reading The plastic wrap

Plastic fantastic fashion

How cool would it be to transform plastic bag waste into clothing, tackling two unsustainability issues in one? Until now, it wasn’t thought possible – largely because the plastic from which bags are made doesn’t absorb moisture and would trap in sweat. But scientists, reporting in the journal Nature Sustainability, say they’ve worked out how … Continue reading Plastic fantastic fashion

In search of a better way with plastic

Plastic has permeated every corner of the planet, from the highest mountains to the deepest ocean trenches, from the stomachs of whales to the rock strata itself. More than 300 million tonnes are produced every year, and these will eventually break down into nanoscale particles that will never go away. But since many aspects of … Continue reading In search of a better way with plastic

Uncovering the ocean’s ‘invisible’ plastic

There is at least 10 times more plastic in the Atlantic Ocean than previously thought, researchers say, and that’s only including the three most common types. A team from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre found 12-21 million tonnes of “invisible” microplastics in just the upper 200 metres, comparable with previous estimates of how much has … Continue reading Uncovering the ocean’s ‘invisible’ plastic

Revealed: the mystery of missing ocean plastic

You’ve probably heard that our oceans have become a plastic soup. But in fact, of all the plastic that enters Earth’s oceans each year, just 1% has been observed floating on the surface. So where is the missing ocean plastic? This “missing” plastic has been a longstanding scientific question. To date, the search has focused on … Continue reading Revealed: the mystery of missing ocean plastic