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(Image copyright: David Jones) Scientists have improved a naturally occurring enzyme which can digest some of our most commonly polluting plastics. PET, the strong plastic commonly used in bottles, takes hundreds of years to break down in the environment. The modified enzyme, known as PETase, can start breaking down the same material in just a…
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Volvo Ocean Race is focusing on taking action to ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’ – the rapidly growing and critical problem of plastic pollution in the ocean, highlighted by the United Nations Clean Seas campaign. The Volvo Ocean Race supports this much-needed campaign and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life below water), through the…
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In 2013, Joel Baziuk had a problem. He had too many fishing nets, and no good way to get rid of them. But that was about to change. As operations supervisor of Steveston Harbour Authority, or SHA, just south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Baziuk is responsible for Canada’s largest commercial fishing harbor. At any given time,…
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Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/commonwealth-unites-to-end-scourge-of-plastic Countries from across the Commonwealth have today pledged to eliminate avoidable single use plastic in an ambitious bid to clean up the world’s oceans. Published 15 April 2018 From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Department for International Development, The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, and The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP Prime Minister Theresa May announced…
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Approximately 5.25 trillion plastic pieces are floating at the sea surface. The impact of plastic pollution on the lowest trophic levels of the food web, however, remains unknown. Here we show that plastics release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into the ambient seawater stimulating the activity of heterotrophic microbes. Our estimates indicate that globally up to…
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Cefas raised awareness of CleanAtlantic on their Marine Litter stand at The Commonwealth Marine Science Event, which was held at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton on the 9th April.  The event was a celebration of marine science across the commonwealth attended by High Commissioners from across the Commonwealth, ahead of next weeks Commonwealth…
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05 April 2018 25 years of research from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) has revealed changes in the composition of marine plastic litter, finding a decrease in the amount of plastic bags found on the UK’s seabed and suggesting that efforts may be able to tackle the marine litter challenge. Despite the…
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Referencia:TRNL20180219001 Abstract A Dutch start-up developed a state of the art technology to remove the plastic waste from the high seas. This year the company will launch a system to collect floating plastic debris from the Pacific Garbage Patch. The material that will be collected will be 50 % of High Density Polyethylene fish nets…
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Noticia publicada por: https://www.efeverde.com/noticias/microfibras-mar-mas-estimada/ La presencia en el mar de microfibras sintéticas, semisintéticas y de otro tipo puede ser hasta mil veces mayor que la prevista por los modelos utilizados hasta ahora para estudiar el gigantesco problema de contaminación que provocan los plásticos en todos los océanos. La ONG Adventure Scientist, el Colegio del Atlántico de Maine…
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The scientific research, using data collected by Race team ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’, identified 75 particles of microplastics per cubic metre in waters near Hong Kong and 87 particles of microplastics per cubic metre along the coast near Melbourne. Lower concentrations of 39 microplastic particles per cubic meter were found up the east coast…
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