So hello everyone, Today I have a little scientific topic to talk which is about Microplastics related to water source. Have you ever heard about Microplastics? What are microplastics? and how are they released into water source? Well, MPs are plastic particles that are smaller than 5mm, which due to their size – they can be released into water bodies thru insufficient filtration systems at effluent treatment plants. They are known by most to be added to care and cleaning products such as toothpaste and scrubs. However, what is unknown is that they are found in clothing and synthetic materials because MPs appear in clothing and synthetic materials when they are washed. Moreover, MPs are released into water bodies thru washing system – and even as much as 35% of MPs that are accounted for in water bodies, for example oceans, are from synthetic fibers. There are two types of MPs such as primary and secondary. Primary MPs are directly released into the environment and one of the leading causes of this is the abrasion of synthetic textiles during washing clothes. And the secondary MPs come from the breakdown of larger plastics into smaller plastic pieces. What problem can be caused by MPs? The issues with MPs being released into water bodies from clothing and synthetic materials are that aquatic organisms may be consuming MPs due to the size of the particles being so small, which can be mistaken for food, and therefore ingested. Thus, aquatic organisms are then either suffering from illness or death, but these issues even have the potential to appear in the food chain should the aquatic organisms survive and be caught for producing food. The risk associated with toxicological effect of MPs is still not fully described; however, numerous studies have investigated these pollutant effects predominantly on aquatic organisms and some negative impacts have been observed. Recently, some studies conduct MPs interactions with human cells. There is an in vitro experiment which revealed that MPs induced oxidative stress to human cerebral and epithelial cells. And another concern may be possible synergy – the combination to produce a greater affect – with hydrophobic organic pollutants that tend to absorb onto MPs and may be subsequently transferred to respective organs and tissues at elevated concentrations. What can we do about MPs? There’s sth that we can do about it, with 6R: - Refuse: refuse single use plastic, refuse any plastics you don’t need, refuse straws, coffee cups, think critically about what you need, think about where Away is. - Reduce: if you can’t refuse it, reduce it. Think carefully what plastic you need, find natural alternatives where you can. There are many things we can do to reduce fiber pollution, for example, you can use a fiber catcher, or use a bag to put your synthetics in, use a front-loading washing machine that generates few fibers than a top-loader. Use a filter on your washing machine to catch the fibers before they go into the water. - Reuse: Now, if you can’t reduce it, reuse it. Choose products that are built to last rather than those with planned obsolescence. Try to get most life out of your plastic items that you can. - Recycle: And if you can’t reuse it, of course, recycle it, our community doesn’t have ability to deal with these types of items, then we should create the demand and the need for it. - Rethink: We live in a society that doesn’t place a high value on second-hand goods, we need to change that. We need to focus on services rather than replacement, and that is going to require the new R is Redesign - Redesign: We need to change our thinking from the linear model of Make, Take, and Dispose to one that’s more circular in nature, to one in which we think about the end life of a product right at its beginning. Let’s slow down fast fashion and focus on quality rather than quantity. THANK Q!
