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

[RFI] Africa continues to grapple with plastic pollution, a waste crisis, and limited investment, activists report, as discussions unfold at the UN climate meetings in Azerbaijan. To shed light on these overlapping challenges, RFI interviewed campaigners and negotiators from across the continent.

A tsunami of toxic plastic waste looms on the horizon but a revolution is promised. Quite how serious is the situation and what is being done? To set the scene, two thirds of plastic products are short-term, throw-away items containing over 13,000 chemicals, many of them toxic, products like shopping bags, straws, cups and so on. The history The first manufactured plastic was Parkesine, patented in 1862 by its British inventor, Alexander Parkes. It was made from cotton fibres dissolved in nitric and sulphuric acid, and mixed with vegetable oil. It substituted tortoise and turtle shells and ivory. Over the other side of The Pond, John Wesley Hyatt founded the Celluloid Manufacturing Company (USA) and mass produced items such as combs, sunglasses... and cinema film. By 1907 the first fully synthetic plastic had been invented by the Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland, who combined formaldehyde and phenol to produce Bakelite (the material used in the old telephones). By the early twentieth century, the plastics manufacturing giants had already been formed by the alliances of chemical and petroleum industries – ExxonMobil, Dow Chemicals, DuPont, BASF and the British company, ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries), which by 1932 was producing Perspex.

Revelle Lecture Explores the Problem and Proposes Solutions

Microplastics are invisible but omnipresent.

Plastic and floating debris are part of a problem that is rapidly growing. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is just one example of how water pollution and trash dumping are spiraling out of our control. Big, floating heaps of debris like the GPGP require interventions that are on a larger scale. This includes those carried out by The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit organization that removes floating ocean debris. However, what about smaller-scale solutions? Coastlines and local waterways also suffer from water pollution as a result of littering. This threatens biodiversity by causing illness and reproductive issues, particularly when aquatic[...]

A new study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) offers a number of technological solutions aimed at tackling one of the world’s most pressing issues. 

The post Smart tech to play vital role in addressing plastic pollution crisis – new study first appeared on International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

This investment will enable the expansion and development of an integrated single-line bottle-to-bottle food-grade recycling plant by Magpet at Vidyasagar Industrial Park, Kharagpur

Revelle Lecture Explores the Problem and Proposes Solutions

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.

Endangered Mediterranean seabirds are suffering from ingestion of plastic litter, a recent study has shown. Overall, 66% of 171 seabirds studied were found to have plastic fragments in their stomachs and the critically endangered Balearic shearwater was among the worst affected.

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%.

Why are regular citizens doing the work that should be done by the companies that make the disposables?

A research team working with an enzyme that eats plastic accidentally engineer it to make it better at breaking down PET.

Ten eco-activists are wanted for a 20-day eco-adventure, sailing from Hawaii to Vancouver while studying plastic pollution in the oceans.

The Indian Ocean is the world's biggest plastic dumping ground, but some of it is leaking elsewhere.

We all know there's too much plastic making its way into the environment; here's an innovative solution to a seemingly intractable problem.

From afar, it might look like Michelle Blewitt is teaching bystanders how to pan for gold, as she vigorously shakes a sieve full of sand on a beach, but on closer inspection, she is teaching locals how to hunt for microplastics.

It is a tiny spit of land that lies in the Firth of Clyde two miles off the coast of Troon where colonies of seabirds have made their homes for centuries.

Microplastics pollution is causing disruption and behavioural changes among hermit crab populations, researchers have claimed.

It's time for action on the federal level.

The Clean Seas campaign was launched last week, aimed at eliminating major sources of marine plastic and changing shopping habits.

But the United States has opted out.

We hear a lot about plastics breaking down at sea, but scientists are discovering that a shocking quantity of plastic enters the ocean already in microscopic form.

No detailed guidelines, no legally binding requirements, and a misplaced focal point are a recipe for failure.

Scientists have named a new marine ecological community, the Plastisphere, comprised of, you guessed it, plastic -- and all the organisms that now call ocean plastic home.

World Oceans Day celebrates awareness and brings to attention the resources available to all of us in the battle against plastic pollution.

Plastic pollution doesn't just kill fish. It kills people too.

Teamwork pushes bold initiatives through.

Every year, some 5.25 trillion new pieces of plastic debris are thrown into the ocean, much of which ends up being eaten by manta rays and whale sharks according to a new study from Indonesia.

A study by international relief agency Tearfund is the first to quantify the amount of plastic waste burnt in Brazil, Nigeria, Mexico, India, China and The Philippines.

Australia. Parliament. Senate. Environment and Communications References Committee, author, issuing body