NOAA: New Oceaneye Partnership Brings Expansion to Microplastics Database. “NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and non-profit organization Oceaneye have created a partnership to improve and expand the Marine Microplastics database. The objective of this partnership is to not only expand the database, but to also establish a diverse international community of public users.”
NewsWise: Machine learning helps researchers separate compostable from conventional plastic waste with ‘very high’ accuracy. “Researchers at University College London (UCL) have published a paper in Frontiers in Sustainability in which they used machine learning to automatically sort different types of compostable and biodegradable plastics and differentiate them from conventional plastics.”
Monterey Bay Aquarium: Monterey Bay Aquarium study creates new open-access database to better identify plastic pollution sources. “Published in Scientific Data, the study offers a more extensive free resource for scientists to tap than previously available. It adds 42 polymer types not included in other open-access libraries and is the first to include polymers from non-plastic particles, such as seagrass, shells, and animal tissues, to prevent misidentification and improve accuracy of results. The study constructs a library of polymer types to match current and newly discovered plastic pollutants.”
University of Massachusetts Amherst: New Open-Access Book On Microplastic Pollution Highlights The Need For Better Science And Management. “In ‘Microplastic in the Environment: Pattern and Process,’ editor Michael S. Bank, senior scientist at Norway’s Institute of Marine Research and professor of contaminants and complex systems at UMass Amherst, tackles an extraordinarily complex problem that has recently come to popular attention: the problem of microplastics.”
University of Rhode Island: URI launches ‘Plastics: Land to Sea’ web platform. “A new University of Rhode Island web platform, ‘Plastics: Land to Sea,’ has been launched to provide the science community with a burgeoning array of data resources and tools designed to inform and support dialogue concerning research focused efforts to start addressing plastics pollution.”
Newswise: Breaking Down Biodegradable: UF Scientist Creates Guide to Bioplastics. “‘These days, I get asked about bioplastics a lot,’ said Maia McGuire, a University of Florida/IFAS Extension Florida Sea Grant agent based in Flagler County. ‘There seems to be an increased awareness of plastic being a problem and people wanting to do better. They see products labeled as “biodegradable,” “compostable,” “green” – and they want to believe that those products are better for the environment without necessarily knowing how to research what to look for or how to interpret the labeling.’ The frequent questions inspired McGuire to publish a document on UF/IFAS Extension’s online collection, EDIS, titled ‘Bioplastics—a better option for the environment?,’ which aims to decipher the labeling of such products.”
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