Though there are many #heavymetals that #coalmining can release to our #freshwater, #selenium has been noted as a particularly risky #pollutant as it bioaccumulates in the #environment reaching toxic levels for #fish, #animals living in riparian areas, and potentially in agricultural #soils and #plants grown in them. This is a risk not only to human #health and the health of aquatic #ecosystems, but also risks the reputation of our regional agricultural products.
9/14
Test of 31 #Shein items found 25 (81%) exceeded #EU REACH limits.
High levels of #phthalates (in 18/22 items, up to 70× limit), #PFAS (9/11 items, up to 3,115×), and #HeavyMetals (cadmium up to 126 mg/kg, lead up to 2,110 mg/kg).
Risks: skin contact, ingestion (children), environmental contamination.
Shein says it removes flagged items; @greenpeace calls for stricter enforcement and platform liability.
#GoldExtraction from #EWaste gets 10 times more efficient with new sponge material
Researchers developed a nanoscale cross-dimensional composite material via self-assembly of two-dimensional graphene oxide and one-dimensional chitosan macromolecules.
By Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Oct 27, 2024
"Researchers have developed a new type of material that’s 10 times more efficient at extracting gold from e-waste than previous adsorbents. Developed by chemists and materials scientists at the National University of Singapore, the material is a type of sponge made of #GrapheneOxide and #chitosan [shrimp shells].
"The material can reportedly transform the way gold is extracted from electronic wastes, which has been described so far as a dirty business with low yields and results in toxic #pollutants.
"The cheaper, cleaner and efficient method was tested by researchers using real e-waste provided by a recycling company."
[...]
"While the present work focused on gold, the team say the technique could be adapted to recover other valuable metals such as #silver, #platinum or #palladium from #ElectronicWaste or even #mining residues. And that is not all: as well as e-waste, the technology might be applied to a wider range of environmental cleaning efforts, such as filtering out #HeavyMetals from #PollutedWater sources or industrial effluents, reported Physics World."
Read more:
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/gold-extraction-from-e-waste-sponge
Article in Physics World - Eco-friendly graphene composite recovers gold from e-waste
24 Oct 2024
https://physicsworld.com/a/eco-friendly-graphene-composite-recovers-gold-from-e-waste/
#SolarPunkSunday #NoGoldMining
#EWasteRecycling #MetalsExtraction #Electronics #RareEarthMinerals #Recycling #NewTechnology #ShrimpShells
The #EPA on Friday weakened #pollution limits for #coal burning power plants, allowing them to release more #HeavyMetals including #mercury, a powerful #neurotoxin linked to #BrainDamage.
The move was one of many efforts by the #Trump admin to revive the declining US coal industry, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that burning coal is harming #PublicHealth & driving dangerous levels of #GlobalWarming. Coal is the dirtiest of the #FossilFuels.
#law #ClimateChange
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/climate/epa-mercury-coal-plants.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
All Scientifical
Timothy Schwinghamer (he/him)
CuNha
CBC Technology Science
CBC Nova Scotia
DoomsdaysCW
Nonilex