Microplastics found to enter agricultural land through wastewater (phys.org)
from Daryl76679@lemmy.ml to science@mander.xyz on 09 Mar 2024 15:06
https://lemmy.ml/post/12965866

#science

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Nudding@lemmy.world on 09 Mar 2024 16:25 collapse

I feel like I can save a lot of time and energy here for scientists and the lay-person alike;

They’re literally everywhere. The tallest mountains, the deepest caves, the bottom of the marinas trench, stop looking, because they’re there.

wise_pancake@lemmy.ca on 09 Mar 2024 17:12 next collapse

They just found them in 50% of artery blockages, so we should probably keep looking so we can finally ban materials that degrade into them.

Nudding@lemmy.world on 09 Mar 2024 18:16 next collapse

It’s plastic. Plastic is the problem.

Daxtron2@startrek.website on 09 Mar 2024 22:18 collapse

Tires

CadeJohnson@slrpnk.net on 11 Mar 2024 08:11 collapse

There is a new process for treating wastewater sludge that destroys the microfibers, so that is good news at least. I think it may be expensive, of course. It is called “hydrothermal carbonization”. Basically put the sludge in a giant pressure-cooker and the heat breaks the plastics into carbon and some water-soluble residual molecules which can go back to the start of the wastewater treatment plant to be biodegraded. But like others say, the main source in general is tires - not sure if they know whether tire microplastics are the main source in agricultural land though.