Plastic is a remarkably versatile and durable material, which has made it indispensable in almost every area of modern life. But these same properties, amplified by our “take-make-waste” linear economy, have created a brewing environmental catastrophe. It’s hard to grasp the gigantic scale of our global plastic waste problem. Since 1950, humanity has produced more than 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic. Most has ended up in landfills or the environment, where it is harmful to wildlife, ecosystem functioning and human health. Once in the environment, plastic slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments, known as micro- and nanoplastics. But it can take hundreds or even thousands of years for plastic, which itself contains thousands of chemicals, to degrade into its basic natural components. That’s because plastics are made up of repeating units of tightly bonded carbon-rich molecules, which makes them very difficult to break down. But nature brings cause for hope: scientists are working on a range of biological solutions to address the plastic pollution crisis at every stage of the material’s life cycle, from capturing waste before it enters the environment, to upcycling plastics into new, useful products. In the environment, plastic slowly breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments, known as micro- and nano-plastics, which are extremely challenging to clean up. Researchers are exploring bio-based filters that can capture these tiny plastic fragments from water. Image by Florida Sea Grant via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Nature-based filters: Microplastics come to a sticky end Micro- and nanoplastic…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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