TESTEX has launched the TESTEX MICROPLASTIC label, setting a new standard for reducing textile microplastic emissions. Using advanced LDIR technology, the label certifies textiles tested for particle emissions per ISO standards. As a member of The Microfibre Consortium, TESTEX collaborates on reducing fibre fragmentation, sharing data to support sustainability goals by 2030.

UK Startup Naturbeads Secures Series A Round to Further Pioneering Technology That Addresses Worldwide Microplastic Pollution  Business Wire

A Penn State University study published in Environmental Science & Technology: Air reveals that airborne microplastics may influence the climate by affecting cloud structures and weather patterns. The study found that microplastics act as ice nucleating agents in clouds, potentially altering precipitation. Professor Miriam Freedman highlights the need for more research into how these particles interact within atmospheric systems to better understand their effects on climate.

Groundbreaking achievement by Safencap, an up and coming industry leader

TESTEX has launched the TESTEX MICROPLASTIC label, setting a new standard for reducing textile microplastic emissions. Using advanced LDIR technology, the label certifies textiles tested for particle emissions per ISO standards. As a member of The Microfibre Consortium, TESTEX collaborates on reducing fibre fragmentation, sharing data to support sustainability goals by 2030.

Microplastics are invisible but omnipresent.

A new study identified the tiny pollutants in the olfactory bulbs of eight cadavers, suggesting microplastics can travel through the nose to the brain

Each of the 11 dolphins sampled exhaled at least one suspected particle of microplastic, which researchers say “highlights how extensive environmental microplastic pollution is”

Microplastics have been steadily increasing in freshwater environments for decades and are directly tied to rising global plastic production since the 1950s, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.

Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and Japan. Microplastics have been detected in human brains, the bellies of sea turtles and the roots of plants. Now, new research led by Penn State scientists reveals that microplastics in the atmosphere could be affecting weather and climate.

Dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico have tiny bits of plastic in their breath, and this is probably a worldwide problem

A flurry of studies has found microplastics in nearly every organ in the human body, from the brain to the testicles. But very few have revealed whether these tiny bits of plastic impact our health

It turns out microplastics have an effect on the weather and climate.

Reducing medlinkplastic pollution/medlink by 5% annually could potentially stabilize the presence of microplastics-pieces smaller than 5 mm-in ocean surface waters (!--ref1--).

Micro-and nano plastics are everywhere in the air, water, food and even inside the human body. However, the risks they pose to the environment or to human health are unclear.

Scientists show that microplastic particles can have the same effects, producing ice crystals at temperatures 5 to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than droplets without microplastics.

Odile Madden knows a lot about plastic. A materials scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, she has spent the past eight years studying plastics […]

The post Microplastics in our environment: A conversation with Odile Madden, Smithsonian plastics scientist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers have discovered high levels of plastic particles and fibres, as well as black carbon (BC), which is formed by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, in the waters of the Jade Bay, an inshore basin off the coast of Germany in the Southern North Sea. The concentration of suspended particles are of concern because they have the potential to be ingested by fish and other marine life, and enter the food chain.

The presence of plastics in aquatic environments is a growing concern across the EU. This study explored the amount of microplastic particles present in raw and treated water at three water-treatment plants in the Czech Republic. While treated water contained fewer particles than raw1 fresh water, the amount found in treated water was not negligible, and largely comprised tiny particles of <10 micrometres (μm) in diameter. Ways to filter microplastics from potable water must be identified and their risk to humans, sources and routes into drinking water determined, say the researchers.

Mussels exposed to high levels of microplastic pollution display signs of stress, new research has shown. However, levels of exposure were higher than found in the wild and no effect on the energy reserves of either mussels or lugworms was observed in the lab. tests. The researchers caution that longer experiments may be needed to reveal microplastics' full effects.

Oysters exposed to polystyrene microplastics produced fewer offspring, which were also smaller and slower growing than offspring from unexposed oysters, according to recent research. The researchers say their study adds to growing evidence of the harm caused by microplastic pollution and can help stakeholders to take action on plastic debris entering the oceans to limit its long-term impact on marine life.

Tiny plastic particles from laundry wastewater are being washed into the marine environment, according to recent research. The plastic, from synthetic clothes cleaned in domestic washing machines, is a significant source of contamination and, unless measures are taken to address the problem, growing coastal populations will only exacerbate the situation.

Microplastic pollution impairs the heath of the marine worms that help maintain sediments for other creatures, new research suggests. This study shows that the energy reserves of lugworms living in sediment contaminated with microplastic particles were reduced by up to 50%.

Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) are likely being exposed to microplastics and associated toxic additives in the Mediterranean Sea, finds new research. The research analysed levels of microplastics and biological and chemical markers of exposure in whales from the Mediterranean Sea and the comparatively pristine Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Mexico. The results suggest that the vulnerable Mediterranean fin whale may be suffering as a consequence of microplastic pollution.

Fragments of microplastics are readily incorporated into groups of microscopic algae, altering the rate at which the plastics move through seawater, a recent study has found. In laboratory tests, polystyrene microbeads, which usually sink to the bottom of seawater at a rate of 4 mm a day, sank at a rate of several hundreds of metres a day when part of microalgae aggregates.

A novel approach for identifying and isolating anthropogenic – including microplastic – particles in fish stomachs has been devised by researchers in Belgium. The new method may enable scientists and policymakers to better assess the presence, quantity and composition of particles ingested by marine life, and improve understanding of the environmental effects of marine plastic pollution.

European policy permits the application of nutrient-rich sewage sludge on agricultural land as a means of recycling1. However, contamination of sludge with microplastics may pose a risk to ecosystems. This study looked at the characteristics of microplastics in sewage sludge after three types of waste-water treatment, finding that anaerobic digestion should be explored as a method of microplastic reduction.

Microplastics, polymer-based particles of less than five millimetres in size, have become an archetypal sign of anthropogenic waste and environmental pollution. This German study explores how microplastics in soil affect plants, screening the potential effects of six different microplastics on the soil environment, plant traits and function using a terrestrial plant-soil model based on the spring onion (Allium fistulosum). The researchers find that plants react strongly to microplastic exposure, with significant changes observed in the physical parameters of soil, plant root and leaf traits and plant biomass.

New study finds microplastics in the most popular brands of bottled water, but experts are unclear on the risks.

A study found that microplastics can be kept inside water-dwelling creatures, like mosquitoes, as they age.

Even remote places like the French Pyrenees can contain urban levels of microplastics.

A 2018 study found that microplastics are being introduced to the environment through fertilizers made through large-scale composting.

Irish teen Fionn Ferreira won the 2019 Google Science Fair for removing microplastics from water.

You're ingesting microplastics when you consume this trendy salt source.

Microplastics in fresh water are primarily laundry lint that comes from washing machines, and they end up in your drinking glass.

At a conservative estimate, people around the world are consuming a credit card's-worth of microplastic every week, according to a new study.

It comes as no surprise to researchers that densely-populated beaches in Australia are contaminated with microplastics but what about our remote coastal areas?