Clearing the Nurdle Hurdle and Other Plastic Waste Tech Victories
Hello there!
It’s been a minute. But we’re back! With the tea on some great innovations and tech to solve ocean and beach plastic pollution.
While ‘turning off the tap’ and halting (most) plastic production is the only real solution, we’re a long way off from that.
In the meantime, we need to deal with all the plastic that has already been made and is decimating the environment. So, today we’re looking at some of the exciting new developments in plastic pollution management.
Here’s the tea on nurdles, micro-plastic satellite tracking, and new frontiers in chemical recycling:
Using NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System to Locate and Track Ocean Microplastics
A team from the University of Michigan has found a way to use the satellite technology used by NASA to predict and track tropical storms to find and track areas with a high concentration of macro-and micro-plastic in the ocean.
Using the roughness (lack thereof) of the surface water in high wind conditions they were accurately able to locate patches of the ocean with high densities of plastic.
This is a huge step towards being able to better understand what happens to plastic in the ocean, where it goes exactly, and how best to remove it!
The Massive Hurdle that is Tiny Nurdles: Sweeping Up Tiny Plastic Beads on Beaches
Nurdles, the lentil-sized pre-production pellets of plastic that are used to make plastic items, frequently leak into the environment. They spill from ships, trucks, and the facilities where they’re stored.
Once in the water, they float and spread rapidly, often ending on beaches. Like all plastics, they pose a threat to marine life and break down into microscopic fragments that are even more harmful.
Clean-ups involve collecting polluted sand and sieving it by hand to pull out the nurdles. Imagine doing that, along miles and miles of coastline!?
Enter BeachTech! Their small beach-going tractor scoops up sand and filters out the nurdles (and all the other litter), without harming the beach. So simple. So brilliant. We’re here for it!
Plastic Pollution – Chemical Recycling Technology That Improves the Quality of Recycled Plastics
We have billions of tons of plastic pollution to deal with. All avenues have their limitations and drawbacks. Incineration causes more pollution. Mechanical recycling produces poor quality plastics, the quality of which gets poorer after every recycle, which justifies producing more virgin plastic… It seems pretty hopeless really.
However, new chemical recycling technologies developed by a team from the University of Bath are enabling plastic recycling that yields higher quality plastic, as well as the harvesting of useful chemicals from the plastic that can be used in other industries. At scale, this could make plastic recycling a much more effective, and viable, solution!
These kinds of developments give us hope that science and technology can really win this battle and give us some viable, scalable solutions to clean up our act. That said, we can also do our part.
Remember that bit about turning off the tap being the best solution?
When we choose to switch to eco-friendly products that do not contain plastic – we’re reducing our role in the plastic crisis.
If you don’t use plastic, you don’t make plastic waste. If you don’t buy plastic, you don’t participate in the market that makes producing plastic profitable.
If you buy alternatives to plastic, you support the plastic-free economy. As an individual, you really can Be The Change 😊
Here are some resources to help you give up plastic:
EcoSwap.me – A Hub for Conscious Consumers to Find and Compare Eco-friendly Products
18 Super Easy Eco Swaps You Can Do Today & Feel Better [2021 Guide]
12 Compelling Reasons For Banning Plastic Bags [2021 Update]
Biodegradable Materials: The Simple Guide for Eco-minded People [2021]
Are Silicone Products Sustainable And Eco-Friendly?
7 Reasons to Choose Natural Fibers Over Synthetic Fabrics (2021)
7 Best Zero-Waste Shampoo Brands & How to Create Yours
13 Best Eco-Friendly Tote Bags to Shop in 2021 [Review]
That’s it for today!
We have been getting some great feedback from you and we love it! To join the conversation, just reply to this email and tell us what you think! We cant wait to chat 😊
Best,
Liza& Johanna