Communities along the coast of northern Spain fear an environmental disaster as millions of tiny plastic pellets wash ashore after falling from a ship. More than 1,000 sacks of pellets, known as nurdles, are believed to have fallen from the Toconao, operated by Danish company Maersk, on 8 December. Hundreds of volunteers have been working to clean up the spill in the north-west Galicia region. The alarm has also been raised on the Asturias coast, further east. As many as six containers are believed to have fallen from the Liberian-flagged Toconao some 80km (50 miles) west of Viana do Castelo in northern Portugal. Of these, one contained at least 26,000kg of pellets, while the others were carrying goods such as clingfilm, tyres and tomato sauce. Dozens of coastal communities have seen a “white tide” of pellets gradually washing up ashore since 13 December. – https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67921088

Nanoplastics present in packaged mineral water pose a greater threat to human health than microplastics because they’re small enough to enter the bloodstream, and impact organs. The researchers found 1-3.4 lakh plastic particles in each litre of bottled water, according to the study, and about 90 percent of them were nanoplastics, while the rest were microplastics. A typical one-liter bottle of packaged drinking water contains around 240,000 plastic fragments on average or up to 100 times more plastic particles than previously estimated, a new study has found. It suggested that health concerns linked to plastic pollution may be significantly underestimated because most of these fragments have earlier passed undetected. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study — conducted by researchers at Columbia University and Rutgers University — is the first to evaluate bottled water for the presence of plastic particles less than 1 micrometer in length, also called “nanoplastics”. A report in Bloomberg stated that earlier studies focused on only microplastics, or plastic pieces between 1 and 5,000 micrometers. The researchers found 110,000 to 370,000 particles in each litre of packaged drinking water, according to the study, and about 90 percent of them were nanoplastics, while the rest were microplastics.

Why The Oceans Need Our Help The oceans are in peril due to plastic pollution. This not only poses a deadly threat to marine life, it also disrupts the food web and worsens the effects of global warming. Plastic disrupts the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, which is one of the main contributors to climate change – https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/visitorscoverage-continues-sustainability-in-action-efforts-to-combat-ocean-pollution-in-2024-302030574.html

Researchers cut their bottled water use after shocking discovery of a quarter of a million tiny plastic pieces per litre. The average litre of bottled water has nearly a quarter of a million pieces of microplastics and tiny, invisible nanoplastics, new research has found.  These have been detected and categorised for the first time by a microscope using dual lasers. Scientists had long figured there were lots of these microscopic plastic pieces, but until researchers at US universities Columbia and Rutgers did their calculations they never knew how many or what kind. Looking at five samples each of three common bottled water brands, researchers found particle levels ranged from 110,000 to 400,000 per litre, averaging at around 240,000 according to a study in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. – https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/01/09/bottled-water-contains-100-times-more-plastic-nanoparticles-than-previously-thought

Plastic pollution is becoming a growing concern, and scientists note that its effects are now observed on progressively smaller scales. Recent research in the United States reveals that bottled water harbors hundreds of thousands of minuscule plastic particles previously unaccounted for. These particles are so tiny that they can penetrate cells and, astonishingly, be transmitted from a mother to her unborn child in the womb. Nanoplastics can pass “directly into the bloodstream” and get into organs, the Columbia University team said, writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January, where they warned the nanoplastics can “invade individual cells” and “cross through the placenta to the bodies of unborn babies.” These so-called nanoplastics are smaller than the microplastics found in rivers and oceans, the byproduct of plastic rubbish being dumped. An estimated 30 million tonnes of plastic are dumped worldwide each year. In early January, the activist organization Basel Action Network said wealthy countries “cannot manage their plastic waste” as it published data showing European Union exports of plastic trash “to non-OECD countries” as having climbed to 75 million kilograms (165 million pounds) a month in October 2023 from 28 million in May 2022. – https://www.dailysabah.com/life/scientists-warn-that-plastic-in-water-bottles-can-enter-cells/news

With plastic pollution being a substantial danger to ecosystems and human health, numerous solutions to reduce this sort of pollution include lowering plastic manufacturing, reducing plastic waste creation, and enhancing plastic material and product design. Researchers have now created a sustainability score for the ecological design of plastic objects with minimal environmental persistence. According to a recent study headed by experts at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, adhering to these criteria might yield significant environmental and societal advantages. The study authors added, “While plastic pollution threatens ecosystems and human health, the use of plastic products continues to increase. Limiting its harm requires design strategies for plastic products informed by the threats that plastics pose to the environment. Thus, we developed a sustainability metric for the eco-design of plastic products with low environmental persistence and uncompromised performance. ”This method of designing single-use plastics can have a significant effect. According to study analyses, the environmental costs to society associated with the replacement of single-use coffee cup lids with alternative materials such as polyhydroxyalkanoates and cellulose diacetate might be hundreds of millions of dollars lower. – https://www.azocleantech.com/news.aspx?newsID=34467

With plastic pollution posing a significant threat to ecosystems and human health, various strategies to lessen this type of pollution include reducing the production of plastic, decreasing the generation of plastic waste, and improving the material and product design of plastic items. Now, researchers have developed a sustainability metric for the ecological design of plastic products that have low persistence in the environment. Adhering to this metric could provide substantial environmental and societal benefits, according to a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. “While plastic pollution threatens ecosystems and human health, the use of plastic products continues to increase. Limiting its harm requires design strategies for plastic products informed by the threats that plastics pose to the environment. Thus, we developed a sustainability metric for the eco-design of plastic products with low environmental persistence and uncompromised performance,” according to the study. Designing single-use plastics using this approach can have a substantial impact. Analyses in the study say switching to alternative materials for single-use coffee cup lids, such as cellulose diacetate and polyhydroxyalkanoates, could reduce the environmental costs to society by hundreds of millions of dollars. – https://phys.org/news/2024-01-accounting-plastic-persistence-minimize-environmental.html

The emergence of plastic rocks across five continents has been catching attention of experts across the world. If reports are to go by, these plastic rocks found in various locations across the globe, are of peculiar forms, and are primarily composed of compressed rock and discarded plastic polymers. They have surfaced on coastlines and inland areas in 11 countries spanning five continents.This revelation serves as a concerning factor with regard to the issue of global plastic pollution, which will pose threats to both ocean sustainability and human health. What are they called? There is a debate in the scientific community with regard to the nomenclature for these plastic-infused rocks. Various terms, including plastistone, plasticrust, plastiglomerate, plastitar, anthropoquinas, and plastisandstone have been proposed to describe the diverse ways in which these formations develop. Each term provides insight into the specific processes leading to the formation of rock plastic. When were they first discovered? Geologist Patricia Corcoran initiated the discussion nearly a decade ago when she discovered the first plastic rock in Hawaii, and coined the term ‘plastiglomerate.’ Recently, Deyi Hou, an associate professor of environment at Tsinghua University, and his team have taken the lead in investigating this phenomenon. They reported

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched its first scientific research expedition to investigate the extent of microplastics pollution in the Antarctica. Argentine President Javier Milei and IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi led the launch of the expedition at the Marambio and Esperanza Argentine Antarctic Bases. The project includes a two-person research team that will set off for one month to assess the impact of microplastics by investigating its occurrence and distribution in seawater, lakes, sediments, sand, discharge water and animals of the Antarctic ecosystem. The IAEA expedition in the Antarctica is being carried out under the agency’s NUTEC Plastics Initiative. Established in 2020, NUTEC is a flagship initiative of IAEA to address the global challenge of plastic pollution with nuclear technologies. This is being done through a network of NUTEC Plastic Monitoring Laboratories, which use nuclear and isotopic techniques to produce data on marine microplastics distribution. The precise data is an important step in developing plastic pollution mitigation plans and disposal measures and policies. In the recent years, scientists have voiced concerns on the rising presence of microplastics (plastic particles below 5mm in diameter) in the polar ice. The first evidence of microplastics in the Antarctic

Introduction Plastics are ubiquitous materials used in almost every aspect of modern life. While plastics have brought numerous benefits, their excessive production, use and mismanaged waste have led to serious environmental issues. These problems encompass pollution, the deterioration of ecosystems, and potential health hazards for humans. Disturbingly, plastic waste has infiltrated all corners of our planet, from the deepest oceans to the remotest mountain ranges.  Much like elsewhere around the world, West Asian countries are coping with growing concerns related to plastic pollution. These issues are particularly pronounced in areas where environmental governance is weak, and waste management infrastructure often proves ineffective. While West Asian countries are aware of and are actively responding to these challenges, a far more concerted effort is required to transition toward a circular economy for plastics. In light of this pressing need, the UNEP West Asia Office has undertaken a comprehensive study that adopts a life cycle perspective to assess the current state of plastic pollution in West Asia. The study aims at assessing the scale and extent of plastic production, consumption and disposal in the region and provide recommendations to policy makers across the region concerning sustainable practices for plastic consumption, production and end-of-life