Bacteria can be the answer to remove microplastics from environment
Microplastics
Scientists have developed a new way to remove polluting microplastics from the environment and they are trusting bacteria for this task.
Bacteria naturally form a group and stick to surfaces, creating an adhesive substance called "biofilm".
This substance can be seen while brushing our teeth or removing dental plaque for instance.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) researchers want to use this sort of bacteria group and create tape-like microbe nets that can catch microplastics in polluted water to make an easy, disposable and recyclable blob, reports The Guardian.
At the Microbiology Society's annual conference, these findings were presented on Wednesday and though preliminary, could still lead to sustainably reducing plastic pollution levels.
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"It is imperative to develop effective solutions that trap, collect, and even recycle these microplastics to stop the 'plastification' of our natural environments," Sylvia Lang Liu, microbiology researcher at PolyU and main researcher of this project said.
Generally smaller than 5 mm, microplastics are accidentally released into the environment during production and breakdown of items like water bottles, grocery bags, washing nylon clothes, among others.
Even though these particles are tiny, they cannot be biodegradable easily, thereby hanging in the environment for long and also absorbing toxic chemicals.
They also find themselves in the wastewater, oceans, threatening marine animals who end up feeding on them, eventually affecting the food chain and harming human health too.