Plastic plucker: the microplastic sponge making a clean sweep

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What’s going on here?

Scientists at the University of Wuhan have developed a sponge that can absorb up to 99.9% of microplastics in water samples. The sponge, composed of cotton and squid bone, could offer a solution to one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues.

What does this mean?

The results of a new scientific study indicate the high degree of the sponge’s efficacy to filter water samples from a variety of sources in China. The study used water samples  from water bodies such as an irrigation ditch, lake, and pond, as well as sea water. It was found that the sponge could remove 95-98% of plastic in a sample, even after five cycles, constituting a significant degree of reusability.

Previous attempts to develop an effective solution to microplastic pollution have fallen short, mainly due to barriers associated with scalability and cost. The authors of the study highlight that the sponge avoids these issues as it is made from cheap and readily available raw materials.

Why should we care?

Microplastics pose a significant threat to human and ecosystem health. Although their impacts were previously understudied and poorly understood, they have become the subject of increasing concerns for researchers and health officials. 

Microplastics may take hundreds, or even thousands of years to break down. What’s more, they do not easily break down into harmless molecules. This is problematic for terrestrial and aquatic life as they readily end up being consumed by animals. It has been estimated that an average person may consume 4000 plastic particles per year through drinking water alone.

So why is consuming microplastics harmful? The answer is based on their makeup, which often features highly toxic chemicals such as PFAs, phthalates and bisphenol. These chemicals have been linked to significant negative human health outcomes such as cancer, endocrine disruption and neurotoxicity. Similar negative health impacts are seen across other animal life.

Finding a scalable solution to the problems posed by microplastics has the potential to be hugely impactful for humans and other natural life. The researchers from Wuhan hope that their sponge could be used on an industrial scale within years – a very exciting prospect.

Be curious!

Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen on Unsplash

The post Plastic plucker: the microplastic sponge making a clean sweep appeared first on Curious Earth.

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