A German company thinks it may have found the answer to cleaning up microplastic pollution before it reaches the ocean — using a whirlpool and a specially developed hybrid silica gel.
Microplastics contaminate the whole planet, from Arctic ice to Mount Everest. The tiny particles, less than 5 millimeters in diameter, are in the air we breathe, and have been found in human placenta, blood and lungs. Scientists estimate that there are at least 14 million metric tons of microplastics on the ocean floor, and while all kinds of plastic debris are considered bad for the environment, these ones are especially hard to detect and remove because of their minuscule size.
What remains is plastic-free water and lumps of agglomerated plastic and gel that can be reused in a number of ways, for instance as insulating filler during construction. The target Wasser 3.0 wants the technology to be used as a new step in sewage treatment plants or industrial processes.