Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Plastic degradation in marine bacteria describes when certain pelagic bacteria break down polymers and use them as a primary source of carbon for energy. Polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are incredibly useful for their durability and relatively low cost of production, however it is their persistence and difficulty to be properly ...
Marine plastic pollution. The pathway by which plastics enters the world's oceans. Marine plastic pollution is a type of marine pollution by plastics, ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic material. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish ...
Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. [1][2] Plastics that act as pollutants are categorized by size into micro-, meso-, or macro debris. [3] Plastics are inexpensive and durable ...
Biodegradable plastic. Biodegradable plastics are plastics that can be decomposed by the action of living organisms, usually microbes, into water, carbon dioxide, and biomass. [1] Biodegradable plastics are commonly produced with renewable raw materials, micro-organisms, petrochemicals, or combinations of all three. [2]
This process of breaking down large plastic material into much smaller pieces is known as fragmentation. [32] It is considered that microplastics might further degrade to be smaller in size, although the smallest microplastic reportedly detected in the oceans in 2017 was 1.6 micrometres (6.3×10 −5 in) in diameter. [34]
The Great Pacific garbage patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific garbage patch [9]) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. [10] The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including ...
The Great Pacific garbage patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific garbage patch[1]) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. [2] The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including ...
The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit environmental engineering organization based in the Netherlands that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and to capture it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. Their initial focus was on the Pacific Ocean and its garbage patch, and extended to rivers in countries including ...