According to a report published in the October 2020 issue of Marine Pollution Bulletin by researchers with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the University of Rhode Island https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X20306251?via%3Dihub#! “…Identifying MPs is crucial for understanding their fate and effects. Many MP extraction methods exist, but procedural differences prevent meaningful comparisons across datasets. This method comparison examines the efficiency of five methods for extracting MPs (40–710 μm) from marine sediments ,,, Findings determined that sediment matrix, MP properties, and extraction method affect the percent recovery of MPs from sediments. Average recoveries of spiked microplastics were between 0 and 87.4% and varied greatly by sediment type, microplastic, and method of extraction. In general, larger particle and lower density MPs were more effectively recovered. Marine sediments low in organic matter and with larger grain size also had higher percent recoveries of MPs. These findings support the need for method optimization and unified procedures …” #MicroPlastics #PlasticWaste #SingleUsePlastic
Animal Digestible Food Packaging Initiative
Our reason-for-being/goal/purpose/objective/intent is to convince/inspire/persuade/encourage the food processing industry to establish and fund a public private partnership for the discovery of new food packaging materials that would be digestible by animals (farm animals as well as ubiquitous microbes).
