back in the early heyday of #plastics, the great conjecture was that it was just a matter of time until we found an easy, natural way to break down plastics and make them reusable.
I bought in—I made the scientific leap that let me follow that conjecture—that some bacteria or enzyme or process would be found soon for the #plasticwaste.
60 years of #BigChem promises and profit taking, with no discoveries—and those made even less likely by their lack of corporate responsibility..
first we need #PlasticImportTariff to cover *all* the costs of the crap coming in by the mega-tonne.
then we need a governmental base plastic price for every single plastic type in manufacture, and the USA needs to buy back as much now as it can -- literally while it's still cheap (the cost will only go up, if we're doing real math).
the planet broke a new record for total plastic production last year.
if you say we can't afford to #recycle #plasticwaste, you haven't really done the math.
there's already a price on plastic.
yet we somehow just can't see it clearly yet.
the cost for #plasticpollution's projected damage to human health, agriculture, fishing and wildlife is immense.
it is literally a steal of deal to buy plastic back before it enters the #environment, whether or not it is ever recycled.
un.org/en/exhibits/exhibit/in-images-plastic-forever
and, yes, that is to some degree leaving the rest of the world to its own devices.
but, without a beginning to pricing ***somewhere,*** and stiff import tariffs from one of the 'leading nations' -- enough to make foreign importers think twice, we will bury ourselves too deeply to recover.
linked: In Images: Plastic is Forever (United Nations exhibit launched in June 2021)
This Future Brief presents the current science on nanoplastics: their detection, assessment and monitoring; their impacts in the environment, ecotoxicity, and environmental fate; and their potential impacts on human health.
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-peptides-microplastics.html
biophysical modeling to predict peptide-plastic interactions at atomic resolution, then validated the results with molecular dynamics simulations. The process was optimized with the addition of quantum annealing and reinforcement learning—specifically a method known as proximal policy optimization.
Using these tools, the authors identified a set of plastic-binding peptides with high affinities for polyethylene and polypropylene.
Researchers have identified peptides that can help remove microplastics from the environment by combining biophysical modeling, molecular dynamics, quantum computing, and reinforcement learning. The ultimate goal of the work is peptide-based technologies that can find, capture, and destroy microscopically tiny plastic particles. The work is published in PNAS Nexus.
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-high-microplastic-bird-lungs-widespread.html
(canary in the coal mine? magpie in a #microplasticfog, maybe)
study found high concentrations of #microplastics in bird lungs, with an average of 221 particles per species and 416 particles per gram of lung tissue. The most common types identified were #chlorinatedpolyethylene, used for insulating pipes and wires, and #butadiene rubber, a synthetic material in tires.
Microscopic plastic pollutants drifting through the air are lodging in the lungs of birds, a new University of Texas at Arlington study finds. Researchers worldwide are increasingly alarmed by how pervasive these harmful particles are in the air humans breathe and the food they eat.
https://phys.org/news/2025-03-scientists-plastic-simple-inexpensive-catalyst.html
(lordy, tell me we could do this with #solar heat energy, and I'll dance a freakin' jig!)
researchers used a molybdenum catalyst and activated carbon—both of which are inexpensive, abundant and non-toxic materials. To initiate the process, the researchers added PET to the catalyst and activated carbon and then heated up the mixture
Think of this tiny culprit, billions of times over.
In all of their myriad variations; we’ve all thrown them away.
The function of AC plug protector served by this PE piece could easily have been served by cardboard, bamboo, or any number of lightweight, but #carbonfriendly alternatives.
They don’t even think of it, because the price of #fossilplastics is so incredibly out of whack when its final disposal cost is ignored.
hard to see where the economic impetus would be for the added technical effort of including the self-destuction-seed bacteria...
and sounds exactly like any of the other grandly announce ideas that will never happen; of course #BigChem will throw a few million at research, and have a grand ad campaign touting their corporate virtuosness...
Economically, the planned obsolescence mentioned by @BarnCatGardens does make sense for them, as well as the increased sales due to the great PR/marketing and a potentially higher price for those products.
rexi
MadeInDex 📰🌎
BarnCatGardens