Waste
Algae may vacuum microplastics, but also indicates greater health threat
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A type of algae that a recent study found collects microfibers brings up questions about microplastic pollution impacts and how it could affect human health.
Your search for microplastics returned 33 results
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From lakes to shores, microplastics are spreading everywhere
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Microplastic particles, typically studied as aquatic pollutants, are also common in coastal dunes on Great Lakes’ shorelines, according to a new study.
Waste
UM researcher says microplastics could threaten Great Lakes fish
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A research project at the University of Michigan is looking at the impact that microplastics could have on Great Lakes wildlife.
Water
Microplastics discovered across the bottom of St. Lawrence River
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Researchers have discovered microplastics across the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, the first time these pollutants have been found in freshwater sediment. Scientists from McGill University and the province of Quebec published their discovery this month in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. The microbeads they found usually come from personal care or cleaning products that wash down the drain and pass through sewage and treatment plants right into bodies of water. Researchers collected sediment with a steel grabber from ten locations between Lake St.
Water
Federal legislation would ban microplastics in personal care products
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BUFFALO – A New York U.S. senator recently introduced legislation to ban tiny plastic particles in personal care products. These plastic microbeads are found in products like facial scrubs, body washes, hand cleansers and toothpastes. They are too small to be caught by wastewater treatment plants so they end up in large bodies of water like the Great Lakes. Illinois has already banned plastic microbeads in consumer products and similar legislation is being considered in New York, Ohio and California. The plastics concentrate toxins that would normally settle in sediment at the bottom of the lake.
Land
Students at Michigan State and Wisconsin win EPA funding for environmental health innovations
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By Isabella Figueroa
Student researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin are among the winners of an Environmental Protection Agency contest for innovations in sustainability. Muhammad Rabnawaz, an associate professor of packaging at Michigan State, brainstorms with his team
The EPA established the People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition to support teams of undergraduate and graduate students working to develop solutions to environmental and public health challenges. The latest round of grants, announced in September, provided around $100,000 each for teams that previously received up to $25,000 from the agency for promising projects. Michigan State’s team is working to create more sustainable materials for disposable cups, takeout containers and other single-use items. Today many of those products are made with microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” due to their extremely slow breakdown in the environment. The team is developing fiber-based and paper packaging that works as well as plastic without using harmful substances.
Waste
Great Lakes beachcombers find mostly plastic
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Microplastics threaten human health. Exposure to them, especially when consumed, involve an array of toxic effects, including reproductive problems, delays in immune responses and oxidative stress, according to a 2023 study published in Environment and Health Journal.
Nearshore
State environment officials request removal of sandbags along Great Lakes shorelines
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Now three of Michigan’s four Great Lakes are back to historically normal levels, and the sandbags must go.
Beaches
Beach cleaning robots are coming to Lake Erie
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The BeBots and Pixedrones will be deployed to Olander Park near Toledo, and then Hinckley Reservation, North Coast Harbor, Fairport Harbor Beach of the Cleveland area.
Echo
Biodegradable golf balls are on the upswing
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Lost golf balls are responsible for a large amount of microplastics that are introduced into waterways. A new company is looking to change that by creating biodegradable golf balls.