microplastics

This new nanotech could help clean up Earth’s microplastics

By Berly McCoy

Chemists have adapted emerging technology -- called nanocoils -- to dissolve microplastics and turn the pollution into food for algae.

September 23, 2018 – PBS NewsHour Weekend full episode

By PBS News Hour

On this edition for Sunday, Sept. 23, President Trump prepares to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly, and scientists study the impact of microplastics on humans and the environment. Also, architects cite human rights violations in a campaign…

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Great Pacific Garbage Patch weighs more than 43,000 cars and is much larger than we thought

By Nsikan Akpan

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch weighs 87,000 tons -- 16 times more than previous estimates -- and contains more than 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, according to a new analysis.

From drugged oysters to birds full of plastic, oceans are feeling the burden of pollution

By Danielle Venton, KQED

Scientists are finding a growing presence of pharmaceuticals, small pieces of plastic and household chemicals in the bodies of Pacific razor clams, Pacific oysters and remote seabirds.

Giant plankton eat and transport plastic through the ocean

By Roni Dengler

Giant larvaceans -- bizarre and beautiful zooplankton -- can transport ocean plastic and may introduce it into the food chain.

This tiny island with no humans is getting buried in plastic trash

By Nsikan Akpan

Henderson Island, a remote locale in the South Pacific, is covered with 37.7 million pieces of plastic debris -- the highest density ever recorded in the world for a beach.

Gigantic, floating screen sets course to sift plastic from oceans

By Knvul Sheikh, Scientific American

If the prototype is successful, a full-scale 100-kilometer-long barrier will be strung out in the Pacific Ocean to collect some 68 million kilograms of floating plastic and trash.