#microplastic

““The Great Pacific Garbage Patch can now be cleaned,” announced Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat, the wonderkid inventor who’s spent a decade inventing systems for waterborne litter collection.

Recent tests on his Ocean Cleanup rig called System 002, invented to tackle the 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic pollution, were a success, leading Slat to predict that most of the oceanic garbage patches could be removed by 2040.

Intersections of ocean currents have created the massive floating islands of plastic trash—five slow-moving whirlpools that pull litter from thousands of miles away into a single radius.

The largest one sits between California and Hawaii, and 27-year-old Slat has been designing and testing his systems out there, launching from San Francisco since 2013.

GNN has reported on his original design for the floating device, but his engineering team improved upon it. System 002, nicknamed “Jenny,” successfully netted 9,000 kilograms, or around 20,000 pounds in its first trial.

It’s carbon-neutral, able to capture microplastics as small as 1 millimeter in diameter, and was designed to pose absolutely no threat to wildlife thanks to its wide capture area, slow motion, alerts, and camera monitors that allow operators to spy any overly-curious marine life...

From the article:

MICROPLASTICS FOUND IN THE EXHALED BREATH OF DOLPHINS

Microplastic is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, widespread across terrestrial and marine environments. In the environment, microparticles have been documented in a variety of fauna. Human epidemiological studies have found relationships between inhaled microplastics and oxidative stress, as well as inflammation.

Recent research has uncovered something quite striking: bottlenose dolphins in Florida and Louisiana are exhaling microplastic fibers. While plastic pollution has been well-documented in marine environments, this new study adds inhalation to the growing list of exposure routes for these animals. Bottlenose dolphins were found to be exhaling microplastics similar in chemical composition to those found in human lungs. Their exposure to microplastics might reveal broader environmental risks, especially for cetaceans health.

Breath samples were collected from wild bottlenose dolphins during health assessments conducted by scientists in collaboration with several organizations, including the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago and the Oceanogràfic Foundation. The researchers used a Petri dish or a custom spirometer to capture the dolphins' exhaled breath and, in the laboratory, analyzed the samples under a microscope for small plastic particles characterized by their smooth surface, bright colors, or fibrous shapes.

- A microplastic from a bottlenose dolphin's breath, nearly 14 times smaller than a human hair. Photo by Dziobak/College of Charleston.

The study found microplastics in dolphins from both urban and rural estuaries, demonstrating that even less-populated areas are not immune to plastic contamination. The key takeaway is that plastic pollution is a widespread issue, with effects that may be more far-reaching than initially thought. While the impacts on dolphins' lung health remain unknown, this research underscores the need to investigate how microplastic inhalation could affect marine life and humans alike. Reducing reliance on plastic is a crucial step toward addressing this growing problem.

Main photograph: Todd Speakman/National Marine Mammal Foundation.

More than 90% of plastic waste ends up in the soil, where it breaks down into microplastics that are invisible to the naked eye. Microplastic pollution of the soil poses a severe threat to soil health as it can harm essential microbial communities and reduce crop yields. The presence of these tiny plastics may also worsen climate change by boosting the production of greenhouse gases, according to a new study published in Environmental Science & Technology.